The 12th season of the Pro Kabaddi League will kick off with a southern rivalry as Telugu Titans will take on Tamil Thalaivas in the curtain-raiser of the tournament at the Vishwanadh Sports Club, Vizag on Friday.
Both of these teams had failed to qualify for the playoffs in the previous season and they would want to turn the tables. In this season of the PKL, the top eight teams will be able to make it to the playoffs.
Meanwhile, ahead of the PKL 12, Tamil Thalaivas retained raiders Narender, Vishal, Yogesh Yadav, Abhiraj Manoj Pawar, Dhiraj Ravindra Bailmare, defenders Himanshu, Sagar, Nitesh Kumar, Ronak, Aashish, Anuj Kaluram Gawade and all-rounder Moein Shafaghi.
In the auction, Thalaivas roped in star raider Arjun Deshwal for INR 1.405 crore, and all-rounder Pawan Kumar Sehrawat for INR 59.50 lakh.
On the other hand, the Telugu Titans retained raiders Praful Sudam Zaware, Chetan Sahu, Nitin, Rohit, defenders Ajit Pandurang Pawar, Sagar and all-rounder Shankar Bhimraj Gadai ahead of the PKL Season 12 Player auction.
The Titans roped in all-rounder Bharat Hooda for INR 81 lakh, right corner Shubham Shinde for INR 80 lakh and also retained seasoned all-rounder Vijay Malik for one season for INR 51.50 lakh, using their FBM option.
Tamil Thalaivas squad: Raiders: Narender, Dhiraj Ravindra Bailmare, Vishal Chahal (right raider), Yogesh Yadav, Abhiraj Manoj Pawar (left raider), Rohit Kumar Beniwal (left raider), Arjun Deshwal
Defenders: Himanshu (left corner), Sagar (right corner), Aashish (left cover), Anuj Kaluram Gawade (left cover), Nitesh Kumar (left corner), Ronak (right cover), Tarun (right cover), Mohit (left corner), Alireza Khalili (F) (right corner)
All-rounders: Moein Safaghi (F), Suresh Jadhav, Pawan Kumar Sehrawat
Telugu Titans squad: Raiders: Chetan Sahu, Nitin, Rohit, Praful Sudam Zaware (left raider), Jai Bhagwan, Manjeet, Ashish Narwal
Defenders: Ajit Pandurang Pawar (left cover), Sagar (right cover), Ankit (left corner), Avi Duhan (right cover), Bantu (left corner), Rahul Dagar (left corner), Aman (left corner), AmirHossein Ejlali (F) (right corner), Shubham Shinde (right corner)
All-rounders: Shankar Bhimraj Gadai, Ganesh Parki (F), Vijay Malik, Bharat
