Pro Kabaddi League Auction: At Rs 93 Lakh, Nitin Tomar Becomes Highest Paid Player

May 23, 2017

New Delhi, May 23: Iran's Abozar Mohajermighani has become the costliest foreign buy in this year's Pro Kabaddi League players auction after he was bought by new franchise Gujarat for Rs 50 lakh while India's Nitin Tomar attracted the highest overall bid.

Nitin

Besides Abozar, other foreign players who attracted good bids at last night's auction are Iran's Abolfazel Maghsodlo (Delhi, Rs 31.8 lakh), Iran's Farhad Rahimi Milaghardhan (Telugu Titans, Rs 29 lakh), Thailand's Khomsan Thongkham (Haryana, Rs 20.4 lakh) and Iran's Hadi Oshtorak (U Mumba, Rs 18.6 lakh).

Nitin attracted the highest bid at this year's auction by Team UP for an amount of Rs 93 lakh against his base price of Rs 20 lakh .

This is a whopping increase of 626 per cent compared to the bid price of Rs 12.80 lakh for Rakesh Kumar, the costliest player in the opening season auctions.

Besides Nitin, other local players to have fetched impressive prices are Rohit Kumar (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 81 lakh), Manjeet Chhillar (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 75.5 lakh), Surjeet Singh (Bengal Warriors, Rs 73 lakh) and Selvamani K (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 73 lakh).

The first day of the two-day auction netted a total price of Rs 27.27 crore for 60 players selected.

Twelve franchises came together, in an intense bidding war, to piece together teams.

For the elite retained players, the final salary was determined on the team's highest spend on a player during the auction.

Each franchise was permitted to retain one elite player, either from the domestic or overseas categories, from their respective Season 4 squads.

Among them are Kabaddi stars Rahul Chaudhari (Telugu Titans), Anup Kumar (U Mumba), Jang Kun Lee (Bengal Warriors), Ashish Kumar (Bengaluru Bulls), Meraj Sheykh (Dabang Delhi K.C), Pardeep Narwal (Patna Pirates) and Deepak Hooda (Puneri Paltan). Jaipur Pink Panthers was the only existing franchise that did not retain any player from Season 4.

The new franchises were permitted one priority pick before the auction. Team Haryana had the opportunity to pick first and they went for Surender Nada, part of the Indian team that lifted the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup. Team Gujarat picked Fazel Atrachali of Iran whilst Team UP chose not to pick any priority player.

"This is a new chapter in the history of VIVO Pro Kabaddi, our largest ever player auction with an enormous auction purse and the biggest talent pool, from all over the country and the rest of the world. With new introductions, such as dynamic pricing, it was encouraging to see the teams strategising to constitute robust teams with a focus on lifting the coveted Season 5 trophy," said Anupam Goswami, League Commissioner, Pro Kabaddi League.I

The auctions were preceded by a draft pick for new young players, scouted from across the country.

The first three to be selected were Rohit Gulia (19), Bhavani Rajput (22) and Mayur Shivtarkar (21).

The second day of the auction, will see players from Indian players from category A, B, C and D, as franchises begin to see their team take shape before the season begins on July 28 across 12 cities, with over 130 matches across 13 weeks.

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News Network
March 22,2024

IPL.jpg

The start of the world’s most lucrative cricket tournament in India is presenting investors with another big opportunity to cash in on the sport, months after the world’s most populous nation hosted the Cricket World Cup.

The eight-week long Indian Premier League begins March 22 for its 17th season. Since its inception, the fast-paced cricket tournament has become a corporate juggernaut to rival the National Football League in the US and the English Premier League in value.

Just as October’s Cricket World Cup boosted consumption in India for months, fans are expected to flock to restaurants, pubs and food delivery platforms over the duration of the tournament. This year’s IPL also coincides with general elections that will last for six weeks starting April 19, a period when companies are expecting higher food and drink sales as people flock to rallies and other events.

“There’s going to be a lot of spending,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda. “IPL, as well as the election, gives a three-month corridor with enhanced economic activity.”

Stocks in India such as McDonald’s franchise operator Westlife Foodworld Ltd. and peer Sapphire Foods India Ltd. gained ahead of the first match on Friday, as well as hotels and beverage makers. Packaged-food companies could also stand to benefit from the IPL craze, said Sachil Bobade, an analyst at investment firm Dolat Capital Market.

The IPL ecosystem was valued at $11 billion (Rs 91,721 crores) in 2023, including the value of media rights and sponsorships, according to Indian valuation consulting firm D&P Advisory.

The league is also attracting record sums of money from sponsors and broadcasters. Conglomerate Tata Group won the title sponsorship rights of the tournament in January for a record 25 billion rupees ($300 million). Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s media venture secured the digital streaming rights in 2022 for five years for $2.7 billion, while Walt Disney Co. paid roughly the same for TV rights.

“There was a serious amount of bidding even this year,” said Vinit Karnik, head of entertainment, esports and sports at media agency GroupM South Asia. “I see growth in IPL in double digits year-on-year,” he adds.

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