Pro Kabaddi League 2017 is all set for a kick-off on July 28 and season five of PKL is going to be one of the biggest tournament in the history of Indian sports as it will feature 130 matches ranging over 13 weeks and the tournament will be spread across 11 states.
With IPL 2017 over, it’s time to go back to the roots and cherish a sport that has been a part of India for a long time. Kabaddi is getting immensely popular among Indian audiences and Pro Kabaddi League 2017 is going to take this sport to a new level as the number of teams have been increased from 8 to 12.
Kabaddi is not just any sport, although it is played for one hour but the mixture of adrenaline strength, concentration, as well as tactics, makes it one hell of a match to witness and tables can be turned within moments. Now with the inflow of private investors and Pro Kabaddi League 2017 being set for a glorious kick-off, anticipation has touched new heights and this time, we have also seen players making big moolah during the Pro Kabaddi League 2017 auction.
Out of the blue, raider Nitin Tomar became the costliest pick Pro Kabaddi League 2017 as he was bought for a spectacular Rs 93 lakh by the Uttar Pradesh team. This means that franchisees have indulged in fierce bids to bag young as well as experienced players during the auction.
Now with further adieu, let’s take look at the final squads of the 12 teams that will compete in Pro Kabaddi League 2017.
Puneri Paltan
Defenders – Dharamraj Cheralathan, Md. Ziaur Rehman, Girish Ernak
Raiders – Rajesh Mondal, Umesh Mhatre, Rohit Kumar Choudhary, Akshay Jadhav, Deepak Niwas Hooda, More GB, Suresh Kumar
All Rounders – Takamitsu Kono, Ravi Kumar, Sandeep Narwal, Ajay, Narender Hooda
Squad strength: 15 (13 Indians, 2 Overseas)
Bengal Warriors
Defenders – Young Chang Ko, Sandeep Malik, Ameares Mondal, Surjeet Singh, Rahul Kumar, Shashank Wankhede, Virender Singh
Raiders – Maninder Singh, Jang Kun Lee, Deepak Narwal, Virender Wazir Singh, Vinod Kumar, Kuldeep, Anil Kumar
All Rounders – Shrikant Tewthia, Bhupender Singh, Ravindra Kumavat, Ran Singh, Vikash
Squad strength: 18 (16 Indians, 2 Overseas)
Bengaluru Bulls
Defenders – Ravinder Pahal, Navjot Singh, Sachin Kumar, Kuldeep Singh, Pradeep Narwal, Mahender Singh
Raiders – Rohit Kumar, Harish Naik, Ajay Kumar, Sumit Singh, Sinotharan Kanesharajah, Sunil Jaipal, Gurvinder Singh, Rohit
All Rounders – Sanjay Shrestha, Ankit Sangwan, Ashish Kumar, Amit, Preetam Chhillar
Squad strength: 18 (16 Indians, 2 Overseas)
Dabang Delhi
Defenders – Nilesh Shinde, Viraj Vishnu Landge, Bajirao Hodage, Sunil, Swapnil Shinde, Satpal
Raiders – Ravi Dalal, Suraj Desai, Abolfazl Maghsoudlou, Rohit Baliyan, Vipin Malik, Patil Anand, Suresu Kumar,Shubham Palkar
All Rounders – Tapas Pal, Meraj Sheykh, Vishal, Rupesh Tomar, , Yatharth, Chetan S
Squad strength: 20 (18 Indians, 2 Overseas)
Jaipur Pink Panthers
Defenders – Jae Min Lee, Navneet Gautam, Manoj Dhull, Vignesh B, Somvir Shekhar, Ravinder Kumar
Raiders – Jasvir Singh, Ajit Singh, Selvamani K, Kamal Kishor, Tushar Patil, Pawan Kumar Kadian, Sunil Siddh Gavali, Rahul Choudhary
All Rounders – Manjeet Chillar, Santhana Selvam, Dong Gyu Kim, Siddharth, Abhishek N.
Squad strength: 19 (17 Indians, 2 Overseas)
Patna Pirates
Defenders – Vishal Mane, Jaideep, Sachin Shingade, Manish Kumar, Sandeep, Satish, Virender Singh
Raiders – Vijay, Pardeep Narwal, Monu Goyat, Vinod Kumar, Md. Zakir Hossain, Vikas Jaglan, Vishnu Uthaman, Jawahar
All Rounders – Mohammad Maghsoudloo, Parveen Birbal, Arvind Kumar
Squad strength: 18 (16 Indians, 2 Overseas)
Telegu Titans
Defenders – Rohit Rana, Vinod Kumar, Farhad Rahimi, Sombir, Amit Singh Chhillar
Raiders – Athul MS, Mohsen Maghsoudloujafari, Rahul Chaudhari, Vikas (Services), Vikas Kumar, Nilesh Salunke, Ankit Malik, Munish, Vinoth Kumar, Munish, Vikrant
All Rounders – Rakesh Kumar, Elangeswaran R, Vishal Bharadwaj
Squad strength: 18 (16 Indians, 2 Overseas)
U Mumba
Defenders – Joginder Narwal, D. Suresh Kumar, Surender Singh, N. Renjith, Deepak yadav
Raiders – Kashiling Adake, Shabeer Bappu, Nitin Madane, Anup Kumar, Mohan Raman G
Darshan, Shrikant Jadhav
All Rounders – Kuldeep Singh, Dong Ju Hong, Hadi Oshtorak, Shiv Om, Yong Joo Ok, E Subash
Squad strength: 18 (15 Indians, 3 Overseas)
Team Gujarat
Defenders – C Kalai Arasan, Abozar Mighani, Fazel Atrachali, Manoj Kumar, Vikas Kale, Sunil Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal
Raiders – Sukesh Hegde, Sachin, Mahendra Rajput, Chandran Ranjit, Amit Rathi, Pawan Kumar, Dange Sultan, Rakesh Narwal
All Rounders – Seong Ryeol Kim, Rohit Gulia, Mahipal Narwal
Squad strength: 18 (15 Indians, 3 Overseas)
Team Haryana
Defenders – Mohit Chhillar, Vikash, Neeraj Kumar, Mahender Singh Dhaka, Surender Nada, Jeeva Gopal, Neeral Kumar, Rakesh S. Kumar, Babu M, Raju Lal Choudhary
Raiders – Khomsan Thongkham, Sonu Narwal, Deepak Kumar, Prashant K Rai, Surjeet Singh, Deepak Dahiya, Ashish Chhokar, Wazir Singh, Vikash Khandola
All Rounders – Deepak Rathee, David Mosambayi, Mayur Shivtarkar, Kuldeep Singh, Parmod Narwal
Squad strength: 22 (20 Indians, 2 Overseas)
Team Tamil Nadu
Defenders – C Arun, Sanket Chavan, Amit Hooda, Rajesh, Anil Kumar, Anil Kumar, T. Prabhakaran, Mugilan, Sanket Chavan, Vijin T., Darshan J, Vijay Kumar, Muruthu M
Raiders – Waleed Al Hasani, Bhavani Rajput, Dong Geon Lee, Sarang Deshmukh, Ajay Thakur, K. Prapanjan, Sombir, M. Thivakaran, Vineet Sharma
All Rounders – Prathap, Sujit Maharana, Chan Sik Park, Ananthkumar
Squad strength: 25 (22 Indians, 3 Overseas)
Team Uttar Pradesh
Defenders – Jeeva Kumar, Nitesh Kumar, Hadi Tajik, Santosh BS, Gurvinder Singh, Sanoj Kumar, Rohit Kumar
Raiders – Rishank Devadiga, Nitin Tomar, Gulveer Singh, Sulieman Kabir, Mahesh Goud, Surendra Singh, Ajvender Singh
All Rounders – Sagar B Krishna, Rajesh Narwal, Pankaj, Sunil
Squad strength: 18 (16 Indians, 2 Overseas)
These are the teams along with their squads that will compete in the Pro Kabaddi League 2017 which is scheduled for a kick-off on 28th July.
However, what makes this tournament even bigger is the amount that has been shelled out t bag some of the best players of the sports. Here is the list of top 5 costliest players of Pro Kabaddi League 2017.
1. Nitin Tomar – Rs 93 lakh
Bought by Team Uttar Pradesh, the raider is the has shattered all records when it comes to bidding.
2. Rohit Kumar – Rs 81 lakh
Bought by Bengaluru Bulls, Kumar is one of the most successful raiders in PKL
3. Manjeet Chillar – 75.5 lakh
Bought by Jaipur Pink Panthers, the allrounder was a member of the World Cup-winning Indian squad in Ahmedabad last year.
4. Surjeet Singh – Rs 73 lakh
The raider was bought by team Haryana
5. Rajesh Narwal – Rs 69 lakh
Bought by team Uttar Pradesh, he is one of the most successful all-rounders domestic Category A
Sandeep Narwal – Rs 66 lakh (Puneri Paltan), Amit Hooda – Rs 63 lakh (Team Tamil Nadu), Jeeva Kumar – Rs 52 lakh (Team Uttar Pradesh), Kuldeep Singh – Rs 51.5 lakh (U Mumba) and Jasvir Singh – Rs 51 lakh (Jaipur Pink Panthers) are some of the other big buys from the Pro Kabaddi League 2017 auction.
The schedule of Pro Kabaddi League 2017 has not been released as of now and stay tuned for more updates as this tournament is going to take us all on a long yet enchanting ride.