Pro Kabaddi 2022: Teams, squads, players list of 12 participating teams in PKL-Sports News , Firstpost

The Pro Kabaddi League scaled new heights in its recently-concluded player auction with the two-crore-mark being breached for the first time in the history of the tournament.

Pawan Kumar Sehrawat smashed the all-time record for the highest bid for a player after he was bought by the Tamil Thalaivas for ₹ 2.26 crore.

And Pawan certainly wasn’t the only crorepati that evening — Vikash Kandola held the record for the most expensive bid briefly after being bought by Bengaluru Bulls for ₹1.7 crore. Iranian star Fazel Atrachali went to Puneri Paltan for ₹1.38 crore while U Mumba secured Guman Singh’s services for ₹1.21 crore.

Also Read: Top 5 expensive buys for PKL season 9

The league certainly has come a long way since its inception in 2014, both in terms of viewership as well as in its finances, and has certainly helped popularise the native Indian sport on a mainstream level.

Ahead of the league’s ninth season, we take a detailed look at the 12 squads along with their most expensive buys and other facts:

Bengal Warriors captain and raider Maninder Singh tries to escape a tackle from Tamil Thalaivas captain and defender Surjeet Singh. Pro Kabaddi League

Bengal Warriors

Raiders: Shrikant Jadhav, Aslam Saja Mohamed Thambi, Maninder Singh, R Guhan, Suyog Baban Gaikar, Parshant Kumar, Akash Pikalmunde

Defenders: Girish Ernak, Amit Sheoran, Parveen Satpal, Shubham Shinde, Soleiman Pahlevani, Surender Nada, Sakthivel R, Vaibhav Bhausaheb Garje

All-Rounders: Deepak Niwas Hooda, Ajinkya Rohidas Kapre, Rohit, Ashish Kumar (Sangwan), Balaji D, Vinod Kumar, Manoj Gowda K.

Top Buy: Deepak Niwas Hooda (₹ 43 lakhs)

Total Players Purchased: 22

Bengaluru Bulls

Raiders: Vikash Kandola, Harmanjit Singh, Nageshor Tharu, Lal Mohar Yadav, Neeraj Narwal, More GB, Bharat

Defenders: Saurabh Nandal, Mahender Singh, Aman, Rajnesh, Yash Hooda, Mayur Jagannath Kadam, Vinod Lachmayya Naik, Rohit Kumar

All-Rounders: Rahul Khatik, Sachin Narwal

Top Buy: Vikash Kandola (₹1.70 crore)

Total Players Purchased: 18

Dabang Delhi team celebrates after winning the final of season 8 of Pro Kabaddi League. Image: Twitter/@ProKabaddi

Dabang Delhi KC

Raiders: Naveen Kumar, Suraj Panwar, Ashish Narwal, Manjeet, Ashu Malik

Defenders: Sandeep Kumar (Dhull), Vishal, Aakash, Amit Hooda, Anil Kumar, Md. Liton Ali, Ravi Kumar, Krishan, Dipak, Vijay, Vinay Kumar, Monu

All-Rounders: Vijay, Reza Katoulinezhad, Tejas Maruti Patil

Top Buy: Ravi Kumar (₹64.10 lakhs)

Total Players Purchased: 20

Gujarat Giants

Raiders: Chandran Ranjit, Pardeep Kumar, Rakesh, Dong Geon Lee, Mahendra Ganesh Rajput, Purna Singh, Sawin, Gaurav Chhikara, Parteek Dhaiya, Sohit, Sonu, Sonu Singh

Defenders: Baldev Singh, Kapil, Manuj, Ujjval Singh, Sourav Gulia, Vinod Kumar, Young Chang Ko, Rinku Narwal, Sandeep Kandola

All-Rounders: Arkam Shaikh, Shankar Bhimraj Gadai, Rohan Singh

Top Buy: Rinku Narwal (₹40 lakhs)

Total Players Purchased: 24

Haryana Steelers

Raiders: Manjeet, Vinay, Rakesh Narwal, Meetu, Sushil, K. Prapanjan, Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsoudlou Mahalli, Manish Gulia, Lovepreet Singh

Defenders: Joginder Singh Narwal, Jaideep, Naveen, Sunny, Monu, Harsh, Ankit, Amirhossein Bastami, Mohit

All-Rounder: Nitin Rawal

Top Buy: Manjeet (₹ 80 lakhs)

Total Players Purchased: 19

Jaipur Pink Panthers had won the inaugural edition of the Pro Kabaddi League in 2014. Image: Twitter/@JaipurPanthers

Jaipur Pink Panthers

Raiders: Ajith V Kumar, Arjun Deshwal, Devank, Rahul Chaudhari, Nitin Panwar, Navneet, Bhavani Rajput

Defenders: Sunil Kumar, Abhishek KS, Ashish, Ankush, Sahul Kumar, Deepak, Woosan KO, Lucky Sharma, Reza Mirbagheri, Nitin Chandel

All-Rounder: Rahul Gorakh Dhanawade

Top Buy: Sunil Kumar (₹ 90 lakhs)

Total Players Purchased: 18

Patna Pirates are the most successful team in PKL, having won a hat-trick of titles. PTI

Patna Pirates

Raiders: Sachin, Sushil Gulia, Vishwas S, Anand Surendra Tomar, Ranjit Venkatramana Naik, Anuj Kumar, Monu, Rohit

Defenders: Neeraj Kumar, Sunil, Thiyagarajan Yuvaraj, Naveen Sharma, Manish, Shivam Chaudhari

All-Rounders: Rohit Gulia, Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, Sajin Chandrasekar, Abdul Insamam S, Daniel Omondi Odhiambo, Sagar Kumar

Top Buy: Sachin (₹ 81 lakhs)

Total Players Purchased: 21

Puneri Paltan

Raiders: Aslam Mustafa Inamdar, Mohit Goyat, Aditya Tushar Shinde, Akash Santosh Shinde, Pankaj Mohite, Shubham Nitin Shelke

Defenders: Fazel Atrachali, Sombir, Badal Taqdir Singh, Abinesh Nadarajan, Sanket Sawant, Alankar Kaluram Patil, Balasaheb Shahaji Jadhav, Rakesh Bhalle Ram, D Mahindraprasad, Harsh Mahesh Lad

All-Rounders: Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh, Govind Gurjar

Top Buy: Fazel Atrachali (₹ 1.38 crore)

Total Players Purchased: 18

A view from Tamil Thalaivas vs Haryana Steelers match. Twitter @ProKabaddi

Tamil Thalaivas

Raiders: Pawan Kumar (Sehrawat), Ajinkya Ashok Pawar, Jatin, Himanshu, Himanshu, Narender

Defenders: Sagar, Ankit, M. Abishek, Ashish, Md. Arif Rabbani, Himanshu, Mohit, Sahil, Arpit Saroha

All-Rounders: Visvanath V, Thanushan Laxmamoha, K. Abhimanyu

Top Buy: Pawan Sehrawat (₹2.26 crore)

Total Players Purchased: 18

Telugu Titans

Raiders: Abhishek Singh, Monu Goyat, Siddharth Sirish Desai, Rajnish, Ankit Beniwal, Vinay, Aman Kadian

Defenders: Surjeet Singh, Parvesh Bhainswal, Vishal Bhardwaj, Adarsh T, Ravinder Pahal, Vijay Kumar, Nitin, Mohit, Mohit Pahal, Muhammed Shihas S

All-Rounders: Mohsen Maghsoudlou Jafari, K. Hanumanthu, Hamid Mirzaei Nader, Ravinder

Top Buy: Parvesh Bhainswal (₹ 62 lakhs)

Total Players Purchased: 23

U Mumba won the second season of PKL and have finished runners-up twice. Image Courtesy: @umumba

U Mumba

Raiders: Ashish, Guman Singh, Jai Bhagwan, Heidarali Ekrami, Ankush, Kamlesh, Shivam, Pranay Vinay Rane, Sachin, Rupesh

Defenders: Surinder Singh, Rinku, Shivansh Thakur, Rahul, Prince, Kiran Laxman Magar, Harendra Kumar, Satywan, Mohit

All-Rounder: Gholamabbas Korouki

Top Buy: Guman Singh (₹ 1.22 crore)

Total Players Purchased: 20

File image of the UP Yoddha team. Image Courtesy: @UpYoddha

UP Yoddhas

Raiders: Pardeep Narwal, Nitin Tomar, Rathan K, James Namaba Kamweti, Gulveer Singh, Surender Gill, Anil Kumar, Durgesh Kumar, Aman, Rohit Tomar, Mahipal

Defenders: Abozar Mohajer Mighani, Babu Murugasan, Jaideep, Sumit, Nitesh Kumar, Ashu Singh, Shubham Kumar

All-Rounders: Gurdeep, Nehal Desai, Nitin Panwar

Top Buy: Pardeep Narwal (₹ 90 lakhs)

Total Players Purchased: 21

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