Franchises pay Rs 50 crore in Pro Kabaddi players' auction

Defender Mahinder Singh and raider Manjeet Singh fetched highest bids as category B players in their respective classes on day two of the Pro Kabaddi League player auctions that ended here Tuesday.

Mahinder was bought for Rs 80 lakh by Bengaluru Bulls while Manjeet was bought by Puneri Paltans for Rs 63 lakh.

In the all-rounders category Sandeep Narwal was purchased for Rs 89 lakh by U Mumba.

A total of Rs 50 crore were spent by the 12 franchises to buy 200 domestic and foreign players over the two days of the auction and only two players - Siddharth Desai (Rs 1.45 crore for category A) and Nitin Tomar (Rs 1.20 crore for category A) -- fetched over Rs one crore in the auction.

They were bought by Telugu Titans and Puneri Paltan, respectively, Monday.

Among the foreign players, Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh of Iran was the highest paid player with a Rs 77.75 lakh bid on day one of the action.

Season 7 is set to run from July 1 to October 9 featuring 173 domestic and 27 international players.

Siddharth Desai said he jumped with joy when he saw the bid amount Monday by the Titans.

"I jumped with joy when I saw the result of my bid. I come from a humble background, my father is a farmer and I know how difficult it is to become a Kabaddi player. I would like to thank Telugu Titans for believing in me and handing me the opportunity to showcase my talent. Now that I have been sold for such a high price I will make sure I give my 100 per cent and make the team proud," he said.

"Puneri Paltans is home to me, and I am extremely happy that the franchise used the FBM (Final Bid Match) card to retain me in the team. I will take this opportunity to raise my performance level and win for my team. I will give my 100 per cent and maintain my fitness level to make sure that Season VII for Puneri Paltans is a successful one," said Tomar who was retained by the Pune franchise.