New Delhi: Raider Nitin Tomar on Monday shattered all records to emerge the costliest-ever player to be bought in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) auction.
Bought for a whopping Rs 93 lakh by GMR-owned Team Uttar Pradesh, he surpassed fellow raider Rohit Kumar, who bagged Rs 81 lakh from Bengaluru Bulls.
Earlier, star all-rounder Manjeet Chillar was bought by Jaipur Pink Panther for Rs 75.5 lakh before defender Surjeet Singh and raider Selvamani K. went for identical figures of Rs 73 lakh to Bengal Warriors and Jaipur, respectively.
Chillar was a member of the World Cup winning squad in Ahmedabad last year, and used to ply his trade for Bengaluru Bulls before moving to Puneri Paltans in PKL's earlier seasons.
Besides bagging services of Surjeet Singh, Bengal splurged Rs 47.5 lakh for all-rounder Ran Singh.
Among other all-rounders in the domestic Category A of elite players, Rajesh Narwal was bought by Team UP for Rs 69 lakh.
Jaipur Panther owner Abhishek Bachchan tried his best to retain Narwal but the new franchise from UP pipped the rest of the competition.
Puneri Paltan succeeded in roping star all-rounder Sandeep Narwal for Rs 66 lakh. He had played the last season for Telugu Titans.
U Mumba then succeeded in catching another big fish in Kuldeep Singh for Rs 51.5 lakh. He had earlier played for Jaipur before going to defending champions Patna Pirates until 2016.
All-rounder Rakesh Kumar, who earlier played for U Mumba and Patna, was bought by the Telugu Titans for Rs 45 lakh.
Among defenders, last season's second best tackler Amit Hooda emerged the second costliest and was bought by Tamil Nadu for a whopping Rs 63 lakh.
The Sachin Tendulkar-owned franchise also bought Anil Kumar for Rs 21.5 lakh.
Jeeva Kumar was the third-highest among the defenders, being bought by Team UP for Rs 52 lakh.
Star defender Mohit Chillar, who was last season's costliest buy at Rs 53 lakh, however, went down to Rs 46.5 lakh to Haryana.
Former Patna skipper Dharmaraj Cherlathan went for Rs 46 lakh to Puneri Paltan, who also bought Ernak for Rs 33.50 lakh.
Patna splurged Rs 42.5 lakh for hiring Sachin Shingade besides purchasing Vishal Mane for Rs 36.5 lakh.
Dabang Delhi bought Nilesh Shinde for Rs 35.5 lakh while Joginder Singh Narwal went to U Mumba for Rs 25 lakh. Rohit Rana was bought by Telugu Titans for Rs 27.5 lakh while Sandeep Dhul was the only Indian to go unsold in this year's auction and was pushed to the reserves list.
Among the raiders, Jasvir Singh emerged the third best buy with Jaipur spending Rs 51 lakh for his services.
Ajay Kumar, who formerly played for Jaipur, will now play for Bengaluru Bulls, after being sold for Rs 48.5 lakh.
U Mumba shelled out Rs 48 lakh for former Delhi captain Kashiling Adake besides buying Shabbir Bapu and Nitin Madane for Rs 45 lakh and Rs 28.5 lakh, respectively.
Team UP also spent Rs 45.5 lakh for hiring Rishank Devadiga's services before Patna went in for Manu Goyat for Rs 44.5 lakh while Surjeet Singh was sold to Team Haryana for Rs 42.5 lakh.
Former Patna player Rajesh Mondal was bought for Rs 42 lakh by Puneri Paltan while Sukesh Hegde, who had played all four seasons of the PKL for the Telugu Titans, was bought by Team Gujarat for Rs 31.5 lakh.
Sonu Narwal, the first raider to go under the hammer almost went unsold before Haryana bought him for Rs 21 lakh.
Among the retained players, South Korean Jang Kun Lee was retained by Bengal Rs 80.3 lakh while Bengaluru retained Asish Kumar.
Delhi retained the services of Meraj Sheykh, Patna retained Pardep Narwal while Deepak Hooda will continue to serve Pune.
Rahul Chaudhari and India captain Anup Kumar were retained by Telugu and U Mumba, respectively while Jaipur was the lone team to get all fresh faces.
