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Former U Mumba raider Arjun Deshwal will don the pink jersey in the eighth edition of the PKL as Jaipur Pink Panthers broke the bank and splurged ₹96 lakh to sign the lanky raider from Services.
The Telugu Titans and Jaipur Pink Panthers engaged in a heavy bidding war for Deshwal and it was the latter that came out on top when the Abhishek Bachchan-owned franchise raised the paddle to sign him for PKL 8. U Mumba opted not to use their Final Bid Match (FBM) card as Deshwal's price had exceeded their budget.
Follow the live coverage of PKL Auction 2021 right here.
Arjun Deshwal at ₹96 lakh has become the third-most costliest buy of PKL Auction 2021, after Pardeep Narwal (₹1.65 crore) and Siddharth Desai (₹1.30 crore).
Arjun Deshwal had a decent season with U Mumba in PKL 7
Arjun Deshwal made his debut for U Mumba in PKL 6. However, he came into the spotlight for the Fazel Atrachali-led franchise in PKL 7 where he and Abhishek Singh led the offense. Arjun scored 104 raid points in the season with three Super-10s to his name and played a significant role in taking U Mumba to the semi-finals in PKL 7.
The Uttarakhand-based player also had a memorable outing for Services in the 68th Senior National Kabaddi Championship where his team ended up winning the silver medal. Arjun raided alongside Naveen Kumar and Manjeet Dahiya in the tournament.
Arjun Deshwal will likely play as a support raider for Deepak Niwas Hooda and both players will look to form a dependable raiding pair in PKL 8 for the Pink Panthers. With Sushil Gulia and Naveen Bazzad also in the unit, the Jaipur Pink Panthers will be looking forward to a memorable outing in the eighth edition.
