The vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 8 player auction concluded on Tuesday with teams bidding for Category B and C domestic players. The biggest purchase of the day was by Jaipur Pink Panthers, who broke the bank to shell out INR 96 Lakh for Arjun Deshwal. Deshwal was earlier seen with U Mumba in his previous two seasons where he scored 110 points from 22 matches. He was also Jaipur Pink Panthers’ most expensive buy of the season.

Telugu Titans also went big to bolster their defence in the absence of Vishal Bhardwaj. They spent INR 59.5 Lakh to pick up Category C defender Sandeep. They also picked up former Gujarat Giants Corner Ruturaj Koravi along with Adarsh T and C. Arun. as 4 of their 6 picks on the days were defenders.

The most expensive player of Season 5, Nitin Tomar, also started a bidding war. Eventually, Puneri Paltan used their Final Bid Match (FBM) card to retain the raider, but not before he became the second-most expensive player of the day at INR 61 Lakh. He was also the team’s most expensive purchase, narrowly ahead of Corners Vishal Bhardwaj and Baldev Singh who cost the team INR 60 Lakh each. The team also bought Sombir for INR 34.5 Lakh to boost their defence.

 
 
 
 
 
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Among the veterans, bidding on Ajay Thakur reached INR 46 Lakh and he will be seen raiding with Naveen Kumar at Dabang Delhi K.C. The team also picked up Manjeet Chhillar and Joginder Singh Narwal along with Sandeep Narwal. This gives them a good amount of experience in the squad to complement the youthful energy of Naveen.

U.P. Yoddha’s big raiders from Season 7, Rishank Devadiga and Monu Goyat, also went to other teams after Pardeep Narwal’s purchase on Monday. Devadiga will be seen at Bengal Warriors while Goyat went back to Patna Pirates with whom he had won the vivo Pro Kabaddi trophy in Season 5. U.P. Yoddha had a quiet day where they picked up 6 Category C players for their base price of INR 10 Lakh each.

Haryana Steelers bid INR 55 Lakh on all-rounder Brijendra Singh Chaudhary to make him among the most expensive players on the day. They had earlier also gone big on another all-rounder Rohit Gulia on Day 2. Rajesh Narwal will be seen coming back into the vivo Pro Kabaddi fold as the Season 1 winner with Jaipur Pink Panthers also went to Haryana Steelers. As one of the most experienced all-rounders in the league, his guidance will undoubtedly prove invaluable to the team. They also secured the services of Surender Nada, who was the team’s captain in Season 5.

 
 
 
 
 
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Most expensive players of Day 3:

  1. Arjun Deshwal - Jaipur Pink Panthers
  2. Nitin Tomar - Puneri Paltan
  3. Sandeep - Telugu Titans
  4. Brijendra Singh Chaudhary - Haryana Steelers
  5. Ajay Thakur - Dabang Delhi K.C.