Pro Kabaddi: Winds of change force out the old guard in auction for season 11

If you’re an Indian kabaddi fan, there’s likely a special place in your heart for Rahul Chaudhari. As one of the sport’s original superstars, Chaudhari became the face of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) and, by extension, the sport in India during a time when fans were searching for the next big name to follow the legacies of veterans Anup Kumar and Rakesh Kumar.

Long before players like Pawan Sehrawat and foreign stars like Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh brought their own patented brand of effortless confidence to the mat, Chaudhari was the showman who cast a spell on arenas and audiences alike. 

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His prime years with the Telugu Titans saw him imperiously build a loyal fanbase, and his subsequent moves to Tamil Thalaivas, Puneri Paltan, and later Jaipur Pink Panthers, with whom he won the league in 2022, only added credence to a storied career.

The raider from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, has featured in every PKL edition so far. However, a sharp decline in his consistency led to no takers ahead of the 11th edition. In response, Chaudhari announced he would step back from his PKL career, though he remains available to represent his state and country.

Chaudhari going unsold was anticipated by pundits and fans alike, who had been dreading this eventuality for a while. He is part of a generation of players who have been fading from the upper tiers of performance metrics for some seasons now — whether it’s Chaudhari, all-rounders like Deepak Niwas Hooda (former India captain) and Nitin Tomar, or defenders like Surender Nada and Vishal Bhardwaj. Gone are the days when legacy and celebrity guaranteed space under the spotlight. The message was clear — perform or perish.

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Reality checks all around

That explains why Sachin Tanwar, a hardworking and under-the-radar raider, became the top buy of the auction, fetching INR 2.15 crore from the Tamil Thalaivas. It also explains why emerging players like Jai Bhagwan (Bengaluru Bulls, INR 63 lakh), V Ajith Kumar (Puneri Paltan, INR 66 lakh), and Sunil Malik (U Mumba, INR 1.015 crore) attracted significant backing and bidding wars.

Even those who managed to secure spots on teams know that the brief has changed. Siddharth Desai can no longer rely solely on his ‘Bahubali’ reputation when the going gets tough. He must find a way to stay fit and contribute consistently to elevate his INR 26 lakh price tag to the 1 crore he used to command.

Iranian legend Fazel Atrachali, once the league’s most expensive foreign player, was snapped up by Bengal Warriors for just INR 50 lakh — a significant drop in his value. Although Shadloui has since dethroned him, Fazel’s tactical insight remains unmatched, even as his body’s begun to slow down. However, in the physically demanding world of kabaddi, a sharp mind alone isn’t always enough to secure a place on the mat.

Auctions are a useful tool for price corrections, especially for teams fielding more expensive players. For instance, the Telugu Titans successfully reduced their expenditure on Pawan Sehrawat from INR 2.61 crore last season to INR 1.725 crore this year, while Shadloui’s price saw only a marginal drop from INR 2.35 crore to INR 2.07 crore.

Pardeep Narwal, another PKL icon and one of its most expensive players at one point, only drew a top bid of INR 77 lakh from Bengaluru Bulls — far below his previous lofty standards and popularity.

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With a purse of INR 5 crore, teams were largely conservative in their spending. Outfits like Puneri Paltan, Haryana Steelers, and Jaipur Pink Panthers, which have built a young core over the years, focused on adding garnishes to elevate their main dishes. Meanwhile, teams like Tamil Thalaivas, Telugu Titans, Bengaluru Bulls, and Bengal Warriors sought to build new cores for the upcoming season.

Young Indian raiders from the domestic circuit were the primary targets for most franchises. Their lower base prices helped, but it also highlighted the increased scrutiny of district tournaments and senior national championships.

Randhir Sehrawat, the only head coach to remain with the same franchise from the start (Bengaluru Bulls), is a strong advocate of such talent scouting. A regular at regional tournaments, he has discovered and nurtured talents like Pawan, Pardeep, and Bharat Hooda (who replaced Pardeep in the UP Yoddhas lineup this season) within the Bulls setup.

Kabaddi’s global footprint shrinks again

On the international front, Iran once again dominated the player pool, with 17 of the 21 chosen players hailing from the country.

The most notable pick from other nations was Jang-Kun Lee, who is back in the Patna Pirates setup. A kabaddi veteran in South Korea, Lee is an Asian Games bronze and silver medallist and a member of a pathbreaking kabaddi generation trained by India’s E. Prasad Rao. He was a member of the team that handed India its first-ever Asian Games defeat in the 2018 Jakarta Games, and became an imperious raider for the Bengal Warriors first, and then the Pirates in 2019.

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Over the last few years, kabaddi lost favour in the South Korean sporting setup when a new administration took over and the existing player pool was shuffled. Lee even explored other avenues of work, taking to soccer, teaching kabaddi, and even acting. However, his return to the Pirates brings hope for a revival of South Korean kabaddi, which stunned the world in the past decade.

Other countries represented this season include Bangladesh, Thailand, and Chinese Taipei, likely due to their performances at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. Sri Lanka, Kenya, England, and Poland — nations that had players in the PKL mix last season — have all dropped off this season’s list.

The Bengaluru Bulls is one of the few teams that regularly rotate its foreign player pool, ensuring opportunities for one or two players to gain experience in the game and culture of kabaddi.

“We want kabaddi to be promoted. It shouldn’t be limited to Iran and India. We’ve previously brought players from Poland, Nepal, and Bangladesh. I make different changes — one year for Iran, and another year for another country’s player, and so on. I want them to learn something from me in two months,” Sehrawat said after the auction.

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Rao told Sportstar on the sidelines of last season that it’s not enough for teams to sign international players and keep them rooted to the bench.

“There should be playing opportunities for these players; that’s the only way to truly gauge the quality of the sport in India,” he explained.