The 7th season of the exciting Pro Kabaddi League might have started a few days ago, but the PKL auction 2019 excited it up way back in April. 441 players went under the hammer as all twelve teams assembled the best possible squad to fight for the prestigious title.
The teams were given the purse of ₹4.4 crores to buy 18-25 players each. Siddharth Desai was this season’s most expensive player as Telugu Titans signed the raider for ₹1.45 crores, second most expensive in the league history. Bengal Tigers bought Iran’s Mohammad Esmail Nabibakhsh for ₹77.75 lakh, making him the season’s most expensive overseas player. Teams also decided to retain their best performers for the seventh season with 29 players being retained in total.
Here is the complete list of each team’s performance in PKL auction 2019:
Bengal Warriors
Bengal Warriors signed Iran’s Mohammad Esmail Nabibakhsh for a whooping ₹77.75 lakh. The all-rounder will be playing in the Pro Kabaddi League for the very first time, but Warriors will be excited to see him in the team after his heroics in the 2018 Asian Games.
Elite Retained Players: Baldev Singh, Maninder Singh
Retained Young Players: Adarsh T, Ravindra Kumawat
New Young Players: Sahil
| Player | Position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Jeeva Kumar | Defender – Right and left cover | 31 |
| Rinku Narwal | Defender | 20 |
| Dharmendra Singh | Defender – Left Corner | 10 |
| Viraj Vishnu Landge | Defender – Left cover | 10 |
| Vijin Thangadurai | Defender – Right cover | 10 |
| Amit | Defender – Right Corner | 17.5 |
| Mohammad Taghi Paeinmahalli | Raider | 15.5 |
| Bhuvneshwar Gaur | Raider | 10 |
| Rakesh Narwal | Raider | 16.25 |
| K. Prapanjan | Raider | 55.5 |
| Sukesh Hegde | Raider | 20 |
| Avinash A. R. | All-Rounder | 10 |
| Amir Santosh Dhumal | All-Rounder | 15.5 |
| Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh | All-Rounder | 77.65 |
Bengaluru Bulls
The defending champions already have a quality squad in the form of Pawan Kumar Sehrawat and Captain Rohit Kumar. They signed Mahender Singh for ₹80 lakh, the team’s most expensive buy for the 2019 season.
Elite Retained Players: Rohit Kumar, Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Ashish Kumar
Retained Young Players: Amit Sheoran, Sumit Singh
New Young Players: Mohit Sehrawat, Banty
| Name | Position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Mahender Singh | Defender – Left cover | 80 |
| Sandeep | Defender – Left Corner | 10 |
| Vijay Kumar | Defender – Right Corner | 21.25 |
| Raju Lal Choudhary | Defender – Right Corner | 10 |
| Aman | Defender – Left Corner | 6 |
| Vinod Kumar | Raider | 10 |
| Lal Mohar Yadav | Raider | 10 |
| Sanjay Shrestha | All-Rounder | 10 |
Dabang Delhi
After making it to the last six for the first time in the team’s history, Dabang Delhi will be eager to keep the consistency. They have retained Captain Meraj Sheykh. Chandran Ranjit was the team’s most expensive buy for ₹70 lakh.
Elite Retained Players: Meraj Sheykh, Joginder Narwal
| Name | Playing position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Ravinder Pahal | Defender – Right Corner | 61 |
| Saeid Ghaffari | Defender – Left Cover | 16.5 |
| Anil Kumar | Defender – Left cover | 20 |
| Vishal Mane | Defender – Right cover | 28.5 |
| Sombir | Defender | 10 |
| Satywan | Defender – Left Cover | 6 |
| Pratik Patil | Defender – Right Corner | 6 |
| Neeraj Narwal | Raider | 6 |
| Chandran Ranjit | Raider | 70 |
| Vijay Malik | All-Rounder | 41 |
Gujarat Fortune Giants
The two-time finalists are eager to get their hands on the trophy this time. Gujarat Fortune Giants spent ₹75 lakh for Parvesh Bhainswal, the left cover defender. The team retained two elite players, Sachin Tanwar and Sunil Kumar.
Elite Retained Players: Sachin Tanwar, Sunil Kumar
Retained Young Players: Lalit Chaudhary, Rohit Gulia
| Name | Playing position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Amit | Defender – right cover | 17.25 |
| Parvesh Bhainswal | Defender – Left cover | 75 |
| Sonu Gahlawat | Defender – Left Corner | 6 |
| Ruturaj Shivaji Koravi | Defender | 30.5 |
| More G B | Raider | 21.5 |
| Gurvinder Singh | Raider | 10 |
| Sonu | Raider | 10 |
| Abolfazl Maghsodloumahalli | Raider | 15.75 |
| Abhishek | Raider | 8 |
| Vinod Kumar | All-Rounder | 26 |
| Mohammad Shazid Hossain | All-Rounder | 10 |
| Pankaj | All-Rounder | 10 |
Haryana Steelers
After finishing with a wooden spoon twice in the last two seasons, the Steelers would look to get on the winning track in 2019. The team has signed Prashanth Kumar Rai for ₹77 lakh. Dharmaraj Cheralathan was the team’s most expensive defender for ₹38.5 lakh.
Elite Retained Players: Kuldeep Singh, Vikash Khandola
New Young Players: Vinay
| Name | Position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Subhash Narwal | Defender – Left Cover | 6 |
| Dharmaraj Cheralathan | Defender – Right and left corner | 38.5 |
| Ravi Kumar | Defender – Right cover | 20 |
| Vikram Kandola | Defender – Left Cover | 10 |
| Vikas Kale | Defender – Right cover | 34.25 |
| Prashanth Kumar Rai | Raider | 77 |
| Amir Hossein Mohammadmaleki | Raider | 12.5 |
| Selvamani K | Raider | 16.5 |
| Naveen | Raider | 33.5 |
| Tin Phonchoo | All-Rounder | 10 |
Jaipur Pink Panthers
The inaugural champions bought Amit Hooda for ₹53 lakh and star raider Deepak Narwal for ₹30.5 lakh. Jaipur Pink Panthers retained all-rounder and the team captain Deepak Niwas Hooda and Sandeep Kumar Dhull.
Elite Retained Players: Deepak Niwas Hooda, Sandeep Kumar Dhull
Retained Young Players: Ajinkya Pawar, Lokesh Kaushik
New Young Players: Pavan TR, Sachin Narwal, Sushil Gulia
| Name | Playing position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Karamvir | Defender – Left Corner | 6 |
| Amit Hooda | Defender – Right Corner | 53 |
| Sunil Siddhgavali | Defender | 20 |
| Nilesh Salunke | Raider | 23.5 |
| Milinda Chathuranga | Raider | 10 |
| Deepak Narwal | Raider | 30.5 |
| Vishal | All-Rounder | 25.5 |
| Dong Gyu Kim | All-Rounder | 10 |
Patna Pirates
It goes without saying that the three-time champions Patna Pirates retained the best raider in the PKL history Pardeep Narwal. But the team also made a few great new signings, especially in the form of Korean Jang Kun Lee and Iranian Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsodlou.
Elite Retained Players: Pardeep Narwal, Vikas Jaglan, Jawahar Dagar
New Young Players: Mohit
| Player | Playing Position | Price (₹ Lakhs) |
| Jaideep | Defender – Left Corner | 35 |
| Surender Nada | Defender – Left Corner | 77 |
| Neeraj Kumar | Defender – Right Cover | 44.75 |
| Mahendra Choudhary | Defender – Right Corner | 6 |
| Ashish | Raider | 6 |
| Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsodlou | Raider | 35 |
| Jang Kun Lee | Raider | 40 |
| Hadi Oshtorak | All-Rounder | 16 |
| Ravinder | All-Rounder | 10 |
Puneri Paltan
| Name | Playing position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Hadi Tajik | Defender – Right Corner | 10 |
| Girish Maruti Ernak | Defender – Left Corner | 33 |
| PO Surjeet Singh | Defender – Right cover | 56 |
| Satpal | Defender – Right Corner | 20 |
| Deepak Yadav | Defender – Right cover | 10 |
| Jadhav Balasaheb Shahaji | Defender – Right Cover | 10.25 |
| Pawan Kumar (Kadian) | Raider | 20 |
| Amit Kumar | Raider | 12 |
| Manjeet | Raider | 63 |
| Nitin Tomar | Raider | 120 |
| Darshan Kadian | Raider | 20 |
| Emad Sedaghat Nia | Raider | 11.25 |
| Sagar B. Krishna | All-Rounder | 10 |
Tamil Thalaivas
As if the likes of Ajay Thakur was not dangerous enough in the attack, Tamil Thalaivas bought the man with the most points in the PKL history, Rahul Chaudhari, for 94 lakh. Superstar defender Mohit Chillar was also signed for ₹45 lakh.
Elite Retained Players: Ajay Thakur, Manjeet Chhillar, Victor Onyango Obiero
New Young Players: Himanshu, M. Abhishek
| Name | Position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Milad Sheibak | Defender | 10 |
| Mohit Chhillar | Defender – Right Corner | 45 |
| Ajeet | Defender – Right Cover | 32 |
| Rahul Chaudhari | Raider | 94 |
| Shabeer Bappu | Raider | 10 |
| Vineet Sharma | Raider | 10 |
| Yashwant Bishnoi | Raider | 10 |
| Ran Singh | All-Rounder | 55 |
Telugu Titans
The Titans made the most of the auctions and signed last season’s Best Emerging Players, Siddarth Desai for 1.45 crores, making him 2019’s most expensive player. The raider also became the second most expensive player. The team also invested in the Iranian defender Abozar Mohajermighani, paying ₹75 lakh.
Elite Retained Players: Armaan, Farhad Rahimi Milaghardan, Krushna Madane
New Young Players: Manish, Akash Choudhary
| Name | Playing position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Abozar Mohajermighani | Defender | 75 |
| Vishal Bhardwaj | Defender | 60 |
| C. Arun | Defender – Left Corner | 10 |
| Mula Siva Ganesh Reddy | Raider | 6 |
| Rakesh Gowda | Raider | 6 |
| Amit Kumar | Raider | 10 |
| Suraj Desai | Raider | 10 |
| Siddharth Sirish Desai | Raider | 145 |
| Dewitt Jennings | All-Rounder | 10 |
U Mumba
The 2015 Champions retained their Captain, Fazel Atrachali, probably the best defender in the league. U Mumba also signed Sandeep Narwal for 89 lakh, making the all-rounder their most expensive buy of 2019.
Elite Retained Players: Fazel Atrachali, Rajaguru Subramanian, Arjun Deshwal
Retained Young Players: Anil, Gaurav Kumar, Mohit Balyan, Surender Singh
| Name | Playing position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Young Chang Ko | Defender – Left cover | 10 |
| Harendra Kumar | Defender – Left Cover | 10 |
| Harsh Vardhan | Defender – Right Corner | 10 |
| Athul MS | Raider | 20 |
| Rohit Baliyan | Raider | 35 |
| Abhishek Singh | Raider | 10 |
| Vinoth Kumar | Raider | 10 |
| Dong Geon Lee | Raider | 25 |
| Sandeep Narwal | All-Rounder | 89 |
| Ajinkya Rohidas Kapre | All-Rounder | 10.25 |
UP Yoddha
UP Yoddha retained Nitesh Kumar, league’s best defender in the sixth season and the only defender to score 100 tackle points. The team also signed Monu Goyat for ₹93 lakh, just a season after the raider became the most expensive player.
Elite Retained Players: Amit Narwal, Sachin Kumar
Retained Young Players: Nitesh Kumar, Aashish Nagar, Azad Singh, Arkam Shaikh
| Name | Playing position | Price (₹ Lakh) |
| Md. Masud Karim | Raider | 10 |
| Monu Goyat | Raider | 93 |
| Rishank Devadiga | Raider | 61 |
| Shrikant Jadhav | Raider | 68 |
| Gulveer Singh | Raider | 10 |
| Surender Singh | Raider | 10 |
| Ankush | Raider | 6.25 |
| Narender | All-Rounder | 20 |
| Gurdeep | All-Rounder | 10 |
| Mohsen Maghsoudloujafari | All-Rounder | 21 |
