Pro Kabaddi League 2017: Nitin Tomar bags the highest bid

Kabaddi is all poised to give competition to cricket in at least the way it is going commercial. Though Kabaddi players are still nowhere near the IPL players who get huge amount of money, yet the rate at which the game is going commercial is astounding.

Last year, the total auction fetched a total of ₹12.82 crore and 96 players were bought by various franchise. This year, the total auction for day one on Monday amounted to ₹27.27 crore for 60 players only. The highest bid of ₹53 lakh for Season 4, had gone to Mohit Chhillar but this year Nitin Tomar attracted the highest bid by Team UP for an amount of ₹93 lakh against his base price of ₹20 lakh.

While Iran's Abozar Mohajermighani has become the costliest foreign buy in this year's Pro Kabaddi League players auction after he was bought by new franchise Gujarat for ₹50 lakh, other foreign players who attracted good bids at Monday night's auction are Iran's Abolfazel Maghsodlo (Delhi, ₹31.8 lakh), Iran's Farhad Rahimi Milaghardhan (Telugu Titans, ₹29 lakh), Thailand's Khomsan Thongkham (Haryana, ₹20.4 lakh) and Iran's Hadi Oshtorak (U Mumba, ₹18.6 lakh).

Domestic players also were bought with hefty sums. Rohit Kumar,bagged ₹81 lakh from Bengaluru Bulls, all-rounder Manjeet Chillar was bought by Jaipur Pink Panther for ₹75.5 lakh before defender Surjeet Singh and raider Selvamani K went for identical figures of ₹73 lakh to Bengal Warriors and Jaipur, respectively.

Each franchise was permitted to retain one elite player, either from the domestic or overseas categories, from their respective Season 4 squads. Jaipur Pink Panthers was the only existing franchise that did not retain any player from Season 4.

"This is a new chapter in the history of VIVO Pro Kabaddi, our largest ever player auction with an enormous auction purse and the biggest talent pool, from all over the country and the rest of the world. With new introductions, such as dynamic pricing, it was encouraging to see the teams strategising to constitute robust teams with a focus on lifting the coveted Season 5 trophy," said Anupam Goswami, League Commissioner, Pro Kabaddi League.

The second day of the auction, will see Indian players from category A, B, C and D, as franchises begin to see their team take shape before the season begins on July 28 across 12 cities, with over 130 matches across 13 weeks.

With inputs from NH Web Desk