PKL 2019 auction highlights: Siddharth most expensive buy at Rs 1.45 cr

On Day 1 of VIVO Pro Kabaddi 2019 players' auction, up and coming raider Siddharth Desai was bought by Telugu Titans for the highest winning bid of Rs 1.45 crore in Mumbai for the seventh season for Pro Kabaddi League (PKL 2019), starting July 19. The attacker from Sangli in Maharashtra had earned plaudits by his stellar show in season 6 of the PKL.
 

ALSO READ: Pro Kabaddi 2019 players' auction: All you need to know about Day 1 action

However, the winning bid for Desai was still Rs 6 lakh below the record League price paid for Bhiwani's Monu Goyat by Haryana Steelers at season 6 auction last year.

Interestingly, Goyat was not among the 27 players retained by their respective teams ahead of this season's auction and was bought by UP Yoddha for 93 lakh.

Top buys on Day 1 of VIVO Pro kabaddi 2019 auction

Players Name	Team	Bid Price
Siddharth Desai	Telugu Titans	Rs 1.45 cr
Nitin Tomar	Puneri Paltan (FBM)	Rs 1.2 cr
Rahul Chaudhari	Tamil Thalaivas	Rs 94 lakh
Monu Goyat	UP Yoddha	Rs 93 lakh
Sandeep Narwal	U Mumba	Rs 89 lakh
Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh	bengal Warriors	Rs 77.75 lakh

In other notable buys, star raider Nitin Tomar was retained by Puneri Paltan for Rs 1.20 crore, Tamil Thalaivas grabbed the impressive Rahul Chaudhari for Rs 94 lakh and all-rounder Sandeep Narwal was purchased by U Mumba for Rs 89 lakh.

Season 7 is to be held from July 19 to October 9, League Commissioner Anupam Goswami told a media conference prior to the start of the auction in the morning.

"We have gone back to the original window of July in season 7 after season 6 commenced in October 2018," Goswami said prior to the auction featuring 441 players from 13 countries.

"We will have the next season in 2020 also in July," he added ahead of the auction featuring 388 Indian and 53 overseas players.

Each of the 12 franchise teams was allotted a purse of Rs 4.4 crore to spend at the two-day auction (April 8-9) after deducting from the salaries of retained players.

Only two of the 12 teams retained the permissible four players each whereas Puneri Paltan decided to forgo their entire roster.

8:36 PM

WATCH: Rishank Devadiga has to say for UP Yoddha's fan

8:02 PM

Kashiling Adake and Sukesh Hegde

Kashiling Adake and Sukesh Hegde, go unsold and that brings us to the end of the first day's auction.

8:01 PM

Manjeet to play for Puneri Paltan in PKL 2019

Puneri Paltan bag Manjeet for Rs 63 lakh

7:55 PM

7:36 PM

Deepak Narwal to play for Jaipur Pink Panthers

Jaipur Pink Panthers bag Deepak Narwal for Rs 30.5 lakh

7:27 PM

Jeeva Kumar to play for Bengal Warriors

Bengal Warriors grab Jeeva Kumar for Rs 31 lakh

7:22 PM

Dharmaraj Cheralathan to play for Haryana Steelers

Veteran defender Dharmaraj Cheralathan will now join the Steelers to strengthen their defence.

7:08 PM

7:07 PM

6:28 PM

Break time

6:24 PM

UP Yoddha use FBM for Shrikant Jadhav

Puneri Paltan win bid for Shrikant Jadhav at Rs 68 lakh but UP Yoddha use FBM to bring him back in their fold

6:21 PM

Shrikant jadhav up for grab

Gujarat and Pune bidding heavily for Shrikant Jadhav

6:20 PM

Haryana Steelers grab Prashant Kumar Rai

Haryana Steelers bags Prashant for Rs 77 lakh

6:19 PM

Prashant Kumar Rai in demand

Haryana Steelers comes in for Prashant for Rs 71 lakh

6:18 PM

Prashant Kumar Rai up for grab

Puneri paltan and Gujarat bidding heavily for Prashant