What's the story?
The 12 Pro Kabaddi League teams have announced the list of players they have retained and released ahead of the PKL's 11th season. The franchises can retain players across three categories: Elite Retained Players, Retained Young Players and Existing New Young Players.
Between the 12 teams, 88 players have been retained among the three categories.
Who are the big released names?
Some of the biggest names in the PKL universe - Pawan Sehrawat, Mohammadreza Shadloui, Pardeep Narwal and Maninder Singh - have all been released by their respective franchises.
All of them were released ahead of the last season as well, so it does not come as a big surprise. Teams can still acquire the services of these players by using the Final Bid Match [FBM] card during the auction.
What did these big names do last season?
• Pawan Sehrawat: Became PKL's most-expensive player of all-time and led a young, unheralded Telugu Titans squad. He did well to finish as the third-best raider, but his team won all of two matches and finished at the bottom.
• Mohammadreza Shadloui: Won the title with Puneri Paltan. Was the season's best defender and had the most tackle points and High 5s
• Pardeep Narwal: Had a poor season with UP Yoddhas, who only won four games in 22. He managed just 122 points in 17 games and finished 15th among the raiders, a terrible low considering his loft standards.
• Maninder Singh: PKL's Mr Consistent had a good season personally and was the fourth-best raider, but his team, the Bengal Warriors, missed the playoffs.
Who are the big retained names?
Puneri Paltan have retained their star raiding trio of Aslam Inamdar, Mohit Goyat and Pankaj Mohite as they look to become only the second team to retain their title.
One of their main challengers will be Dabang Delhi, who have held on to their captain Naveen Kumar [who was injured for large parts last season] and stand-in skipper Ashu Malik.
Jaipur Pink Panthers, the two-time champs, have retained their MVP Arjun Deshwal.
When is the auction?
The PKL Season 11 player auction will be held in Mumbai on August 15 and 16.
How does the auction work?
The domestic and foreign players will be divided into four categories: A, B, C and D. The players will be further subdivided as 'All-Rounders', 'Defenders' and 'Raiders' within each category. The base prices for each of the categories are Category A - ₹30 Lakh, Category B - ₹20 Lakh, Category C - ₹13 Lakh and Category D - ₹9 Lakh.
Over 500 players will be part of the auction pool, including the 24 players from the two finalist teams of the Khelo India University Games 2024.
Each team will have a total salary purse of ₹5 crore.