Nitin Tomar pips Chhillar in an hour, commands Rs 93 lakh in Pro Kabaddi

UP team owned by GMR Sports League snaps up the raider after a heated bid battle with Telugu Titans

Raider Nitin Tomar is a man in demand — the GMR-owned Uttar Pradesh team picked him for Rs 93 lakh.

This was not the only team bidding for him at the auction for the fifth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League on Monday. In the end, however, it was a contest between Telegu Titans and the Uttar Pradesh team.

Tomar is the costliest buy in the history of Pro Kabaddi League. An hour before he was bought, Manjeet Chhillar set a record when he was picked for Rs 75.5 lakh by the Jaipur Pink Panthers. It is backed by actor Abhishek Bachchan.

The reserve price for all-rounder Chhillar was Rs 20 lakh, but bidding started at Rs 30 lakh as teams agreed on it.  

This year, four new teams — Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Haryana —have been added to the older eight in the league. This is now Each had a kitty of Rs 4 crore.

One of the first players to be picked was all-rounder Sandeep Narwal — Puneri Paltan included him in their team for Rs 66 lakh, breaking the all-time record for the highest bid set by Bengaluru Bulls last year when they bid for Chillar with Rs 53 lakh.

The total number of players up for grabs this year us 400, including 60 foreign platers.

Gujarat picked Iranian defender Abozar Mohajer Mighani for Rs 50 lakh, the highest for a foreign player in the league. There were Pakistani players in the auction pool as well: All three that came up for bidding and went unsold, possibly because of the uncertainty over their availability given the tension between India and Pakistan.

Each team that participated in season four (2016) was permitted to retain one player from its previous squad (Indian or foreign), referred to as an elite retained player. The new teams were allowed to make a priority selection to contract one player from the all season four players available after the allocation of elite retained players to existing teams.