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As we near the close of this year, things are already rolling into motion for the next with the auction season beginning for the fifth edition of the gala Premier Badminton League that will be held in January 2020. In its fifth year on the trot, the PBL will feature World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying and India's top shuttler and reigning World Champion, PV Sindhu, among other renowned names.
With 154 players pooling in their names for the big auction that was held at the Grand Hotel, New Delhi, things were conducted on a grand scale in the lead-up to the January 20 event. Divided over 7 teams, the auction rules prescribed that every team has a purse of INR 2 crore, above which they won't be allowed to cash in. The Hyderabad Hunters had their eyes set on P V Sindhu and went all out to retain her for INR 77 lakhs, the highest that can be bid for a single player. With that, she became the costliest player to be kept back by any of the 7 franchise teams. Being in the team that won the Season 3 of PBL, the home girl from Hyderabad is definitely delighted to be back in the Hyderabad Hunters. The Olympic medalist and World Champion will hope to make a positive start to the year with the fifth edition of PBL where she is going to be Team Hyderabad's poster girl.
The other headlining buy of the day was defending champion Bengaluru Raptor's bid for World No. 1 player Tai Tzu Ying, who hails from Taiwan. Along with P V Sindhu, Ying, who is also her arch-nemesis on court, grabbed the same purse of INR 77 lakhs from their respective franchise teams. Clearly, Bengaluru Raptors want to maintain a winning streak and getting Ying on-board could assure that. On the other hand, Hyderabad Hunters also look fierce with Sindhu leading the charge.
After the conclusion of the auction buys, 74 Indian shuttlers will be seen in action during the 21-day event which starts in January. Although, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth may have opted out of the fifth edition of PBL to focus on their international careers, there remains enough attraction in the form of Sindhu, Ying, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Chennai Superstarz) and Chirag Shetty (Pune 7 Aces), Lakshya Sen (Chennai Superstarz) to ensure that there is enough exciting action on court!
Follow Sportskeeda to know all about Premier Badminton League Teams and Squads for 2020 tournament along with schedule, results, live scores and much more.
