<
>

Nitin Tomar becomes Pro Kabbadi League's costliest-ever buy

Getty Images

The first day of the two-day Pro Kabaddi League auctions grabbed headlines as raider Nitin Tomar broke all records to emerge as the costliest-ever player in the league on Monday. He got sold at Rs 93 lakh -- 40 lakh more than last year's highest bid of 53 lakh for defender Mohit Chhillar -- by GMR-owned Team Uttar Pradesh.

Rohit Kumar became the second-highest paid player after receiving a bid of Rs 81 lakh from Bengaluru Bulls.

All-rounder Manjeet Chillar was bought by Jaipur Pink Panthers for Rs 75.5 lakh, while defender Surjeet Singh and raider Selvamani K went for identical figures of Rs 73 lakh to Bengal Warriors and Jaipur respectively.

Bengal spent Rs 47.5 lakh for all-rounder Ran Singh. Among other all-rounders, Rajesh Narwal was bought by Team UP for Rs 69 lakh.

Puneri Paltan succeeded in roping Sandeep Narwal for Rs 66 lakh. He had played the last season for Telugu Titans.

U Mumba then bought Kuldeep Singh for Rs 51.5 lakh. He had earlier played for Jaipur before going to defending champions Patna Pirates until 2016.

All-rounder Rakesh Kumar, who earlier played for U Mumba and Patna, was bought by the Telugu Titans for Rs 45 lakh.

Among defenders, Amit Hooda, among the best tacklers last season, was bought by Tamil Nadu for a whopping Rs 63 lakh. The team further bought Anil Kumar for Rs 21.5 lakh.

Defender Jeeva Kumar was bought by Team UP for Rs 52 lakh.

Mohit Chillar, who was last season`s costliest buy, was sold to Haryana at Rs 46.5 lakh.

Former Patna skipper Dharmaraj Cherlathan went for Rs 46 lakh to Puneri Paltan, who also bought Ernak for Rs 33.50 lakh.

Patna spent Rs 42.5 lakh for hiring Sachin Shingade, besides purchasing Vishal Mane for Rs 36.5 lakh.

Dabang Delhi bought Nilesh Shinde for Rs 35.5 lakh, while Joginder Singh Narwal went to U Mumba for Rs 25 lakh. Rohit Rana was bought by Telugu Titans for Rs 27.5 lakh, while Sandeep Dhul was the only Indian to go unsold in this year`s auction and was pushed to the reserves list.

Raider Jasvir Singh was sold to Jaipur at Rs 51 lakh. Ajay Kumar, who formerly played for Jaipur, was sold for Rs 48.5 lakh to Bengaluru.

U Mumba spent Rs 48 lakh for former Delhi captain Kashiling Adake, besides buying Shabbir Bapu and Nitin Madane for Rs 45 lakh and Rs 28.5 lakh respectively.

Team UP also spent Rs 45.5 lakh for hiring Rishank Devadiga`s services before Patna went in for Manu Goyat for Rs 44.5 lakh while Surjeet Singh was sold to Team Haryana for Rs 42.5 lakh.

Former Patna player Rajesh Mondal was bought for Rs 42 lakh by Puneri Paltan while Sukesh Hegde, who had played all four seasons of the PKL for the Telugu Titans, was bought by Team Gujarat for Rs 31.5 lakh.

Sonu Narwal was bought by Haryana for Rs 21 lakh.

Among the retained players, South Korea's Jang Kun Lee was retained by Bengal while Bengaluru retained Asish Kumar. Delhi retained the services of Meraj Sheykh, Patna retained Pardep Narwal while Deepak Hooda will continue to serve Pune. Rahul Chaudhari and India captain Anup Kumar were retained by Telugu and U Mumba respectively while Jaipur was the lone team to get all fresh faces.