5 players to watch out for the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 auction

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The presence of high-flyer in the auction list is generating worldwide buzz

Brace yourself for an action-packed experience as the world’s grandest stage of Kabaddi gearing to come up with its ninth chapter. The countdown for the Pro Kabaddi Season 9 begins as the twelve participating franchises from the different regions of the nation have begun preparations for the anticipated season. Dabang Delhi will be plying their trade to defend their PKL title anyhow while the other competitors will be launching a full-fledged attack on the champions. 

The two-day auction of PKL 9 will take place on the 5th and 6th of August in the City of Dreams, Mumbai where this incredible league was inaugurated in the year 2014. More than 500 players around the globe have been drafted to the auction lineup and many of them will be going under the hammer at huge prices. Hence ‘Parimatch News‘ brings you the list of Top 5 players to watch out for in the forthcoming PKL-9 auction. 

#5 Surjeet

The Services veteran was part of the National roster which defeated every top side of the world to lift the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup at Ahmedabad. The 31-year-old right-cover defender has also been the general of many PKL franchises such as Bengal Warriors and Puneri Paltan before leading the Tamil Thalaivas side in the PKL Season 8. 

Statistically speaking, Surjeet has the highest number of tackle points at his right cover position in the history of PKL. The most recent PKL edition also saw the Thalaivas skipper overtaking the likes of Girish Ernak and Mohit Chhillar to enter the list of Top 5 defenders with the highest PKL tackle points. The Bengal Warriors stint was the highest point of his PKL career, especially in the Season 5 where he led them to the top of Zone B points table and also finished second in the tackle points charts of the season.  

After an unsuccessful one-off season with Puneri Paltan, the Indian international was the chosen one to lead the Tamil Thalaivas side filled with young talents. He was given multiple responsibilities by the Thalaivas franchise of abiding by the captain’s role, being in charge of the defensive line and nurturing the budding talents as well. He scored 53 tackle points from 20 appearances and ended up among the Top 10 defenders with the highest tackle points. 

#4 Deepak Niwas Hooda

Deepak has earned a reputation as Pro Kabaddi’s most successful all-rounder with an incredible ability to stay consistent by it. The calm phenomena won the gold medal at the 2019 South Asian Games as a captain of the Indian National Team. Jaipur Pink Panthers issued the announcement that their captain has entered the auction battlefield, enabling a golden chance for other teams to acquire the services of the veteran. 

Hooda is currently the fourth highest raid points scorer in the history of the PKL with a whopping number of 973 raid points under his helm. He also holds the tally of 90 tackle points to his account and is expected to cross the 1000 raid points milestone in the forthcoming season. When the PKL caravan began, Hooda was the second-highest costly player in the auctions and started as a defensive all-rounder but gradually turned into a primary raider.  

Despite the bottle job in Season 6, the Pink Panthers management continued their trust in him however, once again the Jaipur-based outfit missed out on the playoffs qualification narrowly by finishing eighth in the league stage standings. Pink Panthers have found a raiding sensation in the form of Arjun Deshwal hence Hooda’s exit from the roster was quite an obvious one. 

#3 Fazel Atrachali

The Iranian Sultan ready for the new venture

The Iranian Sultan ready for the new venture 

After being retained by the U Mumba franchise for consecutive seasons, the Iranian Sultan is now back in the PKL auctions. The stalwart left-corner defender was retained by the Season Two champions for a grand auction price of 1.21 crores for Season 8. Before his homecoming in U Mumba, he was part of the PKL-winning Patna Pirates roster and also led Gujarat Giants to the Grand Finale in their debut campaign.    

The Asian Games gold medalist captain of the Iranian National Team is widely regarded as the greatest foreigner to grace the Pro Kabaddi stage. It is speculated that Fazel will become the highest tackle points scoring defender as Manjeet Chhillar is already retired from his playing career and the Iranian is just 23 points away from his tally. He is the only player in the eight-season long history of PKL to claim the ‘Orange Band’ honour for scoring the most tackle points in a season twice (Season 4 & 6). 

The U Mumba general fetched 51 tackle points from 22 appearances in Season 8 which is his lowest individual tally since 2016. His heavy price tag was the biggest reason behind his release from the U Mumba roster and the team management will be making efforts to bring him back at a lesser price. 

#2 Pardeep Narwal

Will the record-breaker be able to break his own record in the auction?

Will the record-breaker be able to break his own record in the auction?

The record-breaker Pardeep Narwal is set to move out of the UP Yoddha side as it won’t be possible for them to retain his services at such a high price tag. The Haryana-based left-sided raider is ready to make new records in this auction battle after making the global headline in the previous season. Even though he is not in the kind of form he is renowned for, still his addition to the roster is something that every coach in the PKL must be wishing for. 

Pardeep touched his prime with Pirates where he had the lion’s share in their hat-trick of PKL titles during Season 3 to 5. Whether it’s the list of most raid points or successful raids or Super 10s or Super Raids, the Indian international tops each one of them like no other. 

The Yoddhas brought him at a record-breaking auction price of 1.65 crores and put him in charge of their offensive department in order to go for their maiden title hunt. However, the PKL icon failed to live up to the expectations and could score only 188 raid points from 24 appearances. His presence in the Yoddha roster was overshadowed by the prowess of Surender Gill as the ‘Dubki King’ had to sit on the bench numerous times throughout the season. 

#1 Pawan Kumar Sehrawat 

The news of Pawan’s departure from Bengaluru Bulls broke the internet as the fans were not expecting something like this to happen so soon. The Railways’ raider popularly known as Mr 360 of Kabaddi is regarded as the deadliest offensive player in the world right now. The high-flyer is one of those very few players out there in the PKL circuit who are capable enough to turn any game in their favour under any circumstances. 

The star Bulls raider was the most trusted man of the gaffer Randhir Singh Sehrawat whom he also considers his Godfather in this sport. Hence it was very hard to believe that Bengaluru will release their ‘Bramhastra’ however, he has also hinted that the Bulls already have plans for this situation. 

Since his return to the Karnataka-based franchise, he has topped the individual raid points charts for three consecutive seasons scoring a whopping total of 921 raid points in such a short span. 

In the previous season, he bagged 304 points and 16 tackle points from 24 matches including 18 Super 10s and a solitary High 5 as well. Bengaluru Bulls was paying 86.6 lakhs for the services of the 26-year-old raider while the predictions are going around that his final bid won’t be stopping anywhere before the 1.5 crore mark.

Special Mention: Sachin Tanwar, Vikash Kandola, Moein Nabibakhsh, Sandeep Narwal, Parvesh Bhainswal, Sandeep Dhull etc.

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