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The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) will get its eighth season up and running with the PKL Auction 2021 later this weekend. All 12 PKL franchises will aim to rebuild their squads ahead of the upcoming season with a lot of talent up for grabs in the player pool.
Ahead of the PKL Auction 2021, all 12 franchises had the opportunity to retain players from their Season 7 squad. Over the last 10 days, all teams have announced their retained players list, which consists of a total of 59 players. Out of these 59, 22 are from the Elite Retained Players category, six are from the Retained Young Players and the remaining 31 are Existing New Young Players (NYP).
On that note, we take a look at the five players that came across as unexpected retentions ahead of the PKL 2021 Auction.
#5 Harendra Kumar - U Mumba
PKL Season 2 champions U Mumba decided to retain their cover defender Harendra Kumar going into the PKL Auction 2021. It was a surprise that he got the nod ahead of the fiery Surinder Singh.
Kumar was a steady presence in the Mumbai franchise's lineup, playing 20 matches through PKL Season 7. However, he only managed to pick up 20 tackle points with one High 5 to his name. With Fazel Atrachali leading the defense, U Mumba franchise will expect a stronger season from the young Harendra Kumar.
#4 Neeraj Narwal - Dabang Delhi KC
Neeraj Narwal played his first PKL season in 2019 for the Dabang Delhi KC side. With the dominance of Naveen Kumar in the raiding unit, he did not get a good amount of playing time on the mat.
Neeraj only played in four matches and scored 11 points in PKL Season 7. With this tally, it seems that Dabang Delhi KC are backing this young raider to do well going forward by retaining him as their Elite Retained Player.
#3 Hadi Tajik - Puneri Paltan
Iranian defender Hadi Tajik will don Puneri Paltan's colors for the second consecutive season after being retained. This will be the sixth successive season that Hadi Tajik will play in the Pro Kabaddi League.
The right corner defender only scored 16 tackle points from the twelve matches that he featured in for the Paltan. With players like Shubham Shinde available in their ranks for retention, it was a surprise that Tajik got the green signal.
#2 Vijay Malik - Dabang Delhi KC
Dabang Delhi KC all-rounder Vijay Malik will represent the PKL Season 7 finalists for the second consecutive year after being retained. Vijay played as a support raider last season alongside the dynamic duo of Naveen Kumar and Chandran Ranjith.
Vijay only managed to pick up a total of 62 points - 48 raid points and 14 tackle points in 22 matches. With Chandran Ranjith being released, it was a surprise that the Dabang Delhi franchise decided to hold on to Vijay.
#1 Pawan Kumar Kadian - Puneri Paltan
A Pro Kabaddi League veteran by some standards, Pawan Kumar Kadian was retained by Puneri Paltan ahead of the PKL 2021 Auction. This was a surprise pick considering the fact that Pawan had only managed to score 25 raid points in Season 7 and played only six matches.
Pawan fell down the pecking order with the emergence of the young and talented Pankaj Mohite for the Pune franchise. It will be interesting to see how Paltan's coach and PKL legend Anup Kumar utilizes him going into Season 8.
