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The Haryana Steelers went all-guns-blazing in this season's auction as some massive bids were made by them.
This made them the centre of attraction at the PKL auction, and the rest of the teams had a keen eye on them throughout.
The biggest moment of the first day at the auction came when they paid an exorbitant amount of Rs. 1.51 crore to acquire Monu Goyat, making him the highest paid player in the history of the Pro Kabaddi League.
The record was held by Nitin Tomar till the start of this year's auction, as he was bought by UP Yoddha last year for a whopping Rs. 93 lakh.
However, the franchises certainly went all-out this time, and there were five other players going for over (or equal to) the 1 crore mark, namely Deepak Niwas Hooda (Rs. 115 lakhs) to Jaipur Pink Panthers, Fazel Athrachali (Rs. 100 Lakhs) to U Mumba, Rishank Devadiga (Rs. 111 lakhs) to UP Yoddha, Nitin Tomar (Rs. 115 lakhs) to Puneri Paltan, and Rahul Chaudhari (Rs. 129 lakhs) to Telugu Titans.
The Steelers also managed to retain some important players this time. Surender Nada, who was rightly named the Top Defender last season with an impressive 80 tackle points, the very effective raider Wazir Singh, and the useful All-rounder Kuldeep Singh, were some of the players retained.
The Steelers had a promising debut season in 2017 PKL, as they finished at 3rd position in Zone A, with 79 points from their 22 games. This included 13 wins and five losses and enabled them to qualify for the playoffs.
Following is the complete list of players that will be seen in the Haryana Steelers squad this time around:
Raiders:
Monu Goyat - ₹151 lakh
Vikash Khandola - ₹47 lakh
Wazir Singh - ₹20 lakh
Md. Zakir Hossain - ₹8.4 lakh
Arun Kumar HN [NYP] - ₹6.6 lakh
Anand Tomar - ₹5 lakh
Bhuvneshwar Gaur - ₹5 lakh
Defenders:
Surender Nada - ₹75 lakh
Sachin Shingade - ₹20 lakh
Vikash [NYP]- ₹6.6 lakh
Neeraj Kumar [NYP] - ₹6.6 lakh
Amit Singh - ₹5 lakh
All-rounders:
Kuldeep Singh [Retained] - ₹10.34 lakh
Patrick Nzau Muvai - ₹8 lakh
Mayur Shivthakar [NYP] - ₹6.6 lakh
Prateek - ₹5 lakh
On the face of it, the Haryana steelers seem to have a terrific contingent which may take them a long way in the sixth season of the Pro Kabaddi League. What is your opinion on the new squad? We would love to see you have a say in the comments below.
