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As the final week of May approaches and the Indian Premier League culminates, all the attention will shift to the mega auction ahead of the sixth season of the Pro Kabaddi League which is set to commence in October. The auction, which is slated to take place on the 30th and 31st of May will see some big names go under the hammer with the ten teams looking to form a strong combination ahead of the upcoming season.
Ahead of the auctions, the retention list was out which raised a lot of eyebrows with the prominent names such as Anup Kumar, Rahul Chaudhari, Manjeet Chhillar amongst others being the notable absentees. With only a couple of weeks to go for the auctions, here are some of the interesting points to note.
#5 A plethora of captaincy options
If one was to look back at the list of the retained players, only half the teams look to have their captains sorted out while the other half will be on the lookout to procure the services of a high calibre player who can also double up as the leader of the squad.
Rohit Kumar has been phenomenal for the Bulls and will most likely continue to lead the side while Sandeep Narwal is more than capable to lead the Puneri Paltan. Surjeet Singh and Pardeep Narwal led their teams to the finals while Ajay Thakur's experience leading the Tamil Thalaivas will come to aid in the upcoming season.
However, for teams such as U Mumba, Telugu Titans and especially the Jaipur Pink Panthers, who have not retained any player, they will need to sign up a player who can captain the squad and how these teams go about picking their skipper will be interesting to watch.
#4 Keen eye out for foreign players
While the inception of the Pro Kabaddi League has undoubtedly given a platform for young Indian talent to shine, it has also given teams a window of opportunity to add experience to their team in the form of foreign players, who bring in their experience to the squad.
Ahead of the auctions, only two foreign players were retained in the form of Meraj Sheykh (Dabang Delhi) and Mohsen Maghsoudlou (Telugu Titans) and with the likes of Fazel Athrachali, Abozar Mighani and Jang Kun Lee set to feature in the auctions, one can expect teams to strengthen their squad with big bids for the foreign contingent.
#3 Big bids for prodigious talents
If the previous season was anything to go by, then the teams can be expected to go big for some unknown names, who can add extra spice to the team and shape up the squads in an interesting way.
The likes of Sachin Tanwar, Harish Naik, Vishal Bharadwaj made a huge impact on their team's fortunes last season and this time around, with the Senior National Kabaddi Championships producing some riveting action, the auctions make spring up a couple of surprises with teams empty their purses to procure the services of some fringe players.
In addition to this, the introduction of the future Kabaddi heroes programme could also add some excitement to the auction with junior players set to throw their hat in the ring with a hope to represent their favourite franchise.
#2 Rush hour for marquee players
When the retention list came out in early April, a lot of questions were asked with the likes of Manjeet Chhillar, Anup Kumar amongst others missing out from the list and given their experience, it was a major source of headlines.
Come the auctions, teams will undoubtedly look to break the bank in order to secure the services of some of these big match players. What will also be interesting to see is how much the franchises will be willing to spend on some of the bigwigs, with the myriad sets of talents that are going to feature in the auctions.
The likes of Surender Nada, Mohit Chhillar will undoubtedly be on top of the teams' radar while the big names of Rahul Chaudhari, Kashiling Adake will certainly heat up the auction room on the day.
#1 Emotions to play a role in selection?
Just like MS Dhoni's continued alliance with CSK or Virat Kohli's with RCB, the likes of Anup Kumar and Rahul Chaudhari have played the whole of the Pro Kabaddi League with U Mumba and Telugu Titans respectively. However, the big two were not retained and the question remains - will the franchises look to buy back their old warhorses?
Similar is the case with the Jaipur Pink Panthers, who have opted to completely revamp their squad and have let go of big names such as Manjeet Chhillar, Jasvir Singh etc looking for a change in fortunes through a new look squad.
On the auction day, what will be interesting to see is if emotions play a role in selection.
