
The Pro Kabaddi League in its fifth edition will kickstart from July 28 and the final is slated to be played on October 28. The auctions, which were held in New Delhi on Monday, saw over 400 players in the pool. Until the previous season, there were eight teams. But the fifth season will see four new teams — UP Yoddha, Haryana Steelers, Gujarat Fortunegiants and Tamil Thalaivas — contesting in the race to win the title. The franchises spent over Rs 46.99 crores over 227 players. At Rs 93 lakh, Nitin Tomar became the costliest player in the history of PKL, after team Uttar Pradesh acquired his services. Rohit Kumar (Rs 81 lakh), Manjeet Chhillar (Rs 75.5 lakh), Surjeet Singh (Rs 73 lakh) and Selvamani K (Rs 73 lakh) followed the 35-year old raider in the list. Meanwhile, Suraj Desai was bought by Dabang Delhi for Rs 52.5 lakh, also the highest bid for a Category B player in history. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Jang Kun Lee is the most expensive overseas player after Bengal Warriors retained him for Rs 80.3 lakh.