422 players to be part of Pro Kabaddi League 6 auction

Chennai

The player pool consists of 58 overseas players from different nations like Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, Japan and Republic of Korea. 87 players from the Future Kabaddi Heroes (FKH) programme also form a part of the auction pool. This season also marks the introduction of “Final Bid Match”, which will enable a franchise to match the final bid made by another franchise. It is similar to the “Right To Match” card concept in the Indian Premier League.

Anup Kumar, Rahul Chaudhari, Deepak Hooda and Nitin Tomar are some of the key Indian players the teams could be vying for during the two-day event. Iranian defenders Fazel Atrachali and Abozar Mighani, who were an integral part in Gujarat Fortunegiants’ setup while they made it to the final in PKL Season 5, are some of the overseas heavyweights to be part of the auction pool.

Earlier, 21 players were retained by nine different franchises for the upcoming edition. UP Yoddha, Jaipur Pink Panthers and U Mumba decided to go into the auction with a clean slate.

As far as home side Tamil Thalaivas is concerned, it has retained its skipper Ajay Thakur, right-corner defender Amit Hooda and local lad C Arun. After finishing at the bottom of its pool in the previous edition, it will be interesting to see the kind of squad new coach Edachery Bhaskaran picks during the player auction.

Auction rules:

• The squad size can be anywhere between 18 and 25.
• Each team should have a minimum of two foreign players and its overseas tally must not exceed four.
• Each franchise can have a maximum of three players from the Future Kabaddi Heroes (FKH) programme.
• Total purse amount for each franchise is Rs 4 Cr.
• A team which has retained four elite players can exercise only one “Final Bid Match” option while a team that has retained less than four elite players can exercise two “Final Bid Match” options during the auction.

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