Ahead of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 9 auction, the teams have released their list of retained players from the Elite Retained Players, Retained Young Players, Existing New Young Players and Franchisee-nominated New young Players categories.
A total of 111 players were retained by the 12 teams ahead of the auction for PKL Season 9. Out of these 111 players, 13 are Retained Young Players, 19 are Elite Retained Players, 38 are Existing New Young Players and 41 are Franchisees-nominated New Young Players.
Puneri Paltan, Tamil Thalaivas and U.P. Yoddha have all retained as many as 11 players. Pune’s Star all-rounder Aslam Inamdar, who tallied 189 points in PKL Season 8, has been retained.
Bengal Warriors, Jaipur Pink Panthers and Gujarat Giants are the teams with the fewest retentions having retained seven players each.
The Elite Retained Players list is headlined by the retention of star raider Maninder Singh by Bengal Warriors.
Patna Pirates have retained as many as four players from the elite list - the most by any team for the category. This includes Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, Sajin Chandrasekar, Monu and Neeraj Kumar. Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh is also the only foreign player retained ahead of PKL Season 9.
In the Young Players’ category, Naveen Kumar’s retention by Dabang Delhi does not come as a surprise. The 22-year-old raider averaged 12.18 raid points per game last season and finished with a tally of 210 points in total.
It’s worth noting that teams are allowed to retain up to six players under the Elite Retained Players category. Franchises can also retain up to four players from the New Young Players category under stipulated conditions.
On that note, here’s a look at the complete list of players retained by PKL franchises ahead of Season 9.
Bengal Warriors retained players
Maninder Singh - Raider
Akash Pikalmunde - Raider
Suyog Baban Gaikar - Raider
R Guhan - Raider
Parshant Kumar - Raider
Manoj Gowda - All-rounder
Vaibhav Bhausaheb Garje - Defender
Bengaluru Bulls retained players
More G B - Raider
Bharat - Raider
Rohit Kumar - Defender
Vinod Lachmayya Naik - Defender
Saurabh Nandal - Defender
Mahender Singh - Defender
Mayur Jagannath Kadam - Defender
Rajnesh - Defender
Yash Hooda - Defender
Yash Hooda - Defender
Dabang Delhi K.C. retained players
Naveen Kumar - Raider
Ashu Malik - Raider
Ashish Narwal - Raider
Manjeet - Raider
Suraj Panwar - Raider
Vijay - All-rounder
Dipak - Defender
Krishan - Defender
Vinay Kumar - Defender
Vijay - Defender
Gujarat Giants retained players
Sonu - Raider
Rakesh - Raider
Gaurav Chhikara - Raider
Sohit - Raider
Sonu Singh - Raider
Parteek Dhaiya - Raider
Rohan Singh - All-rounder
Haryana Steelers retained players
Meetu - Raider
Jaideep - Defender
Ankit - Defender
Mohit - Defender
Monu - Defender
Naveen - Defender
Harsh - Defender
Sunny - Defender
Jaipur Pink Panthers retained players
Arjun Deshwal - Raider
Devank - Raider
Sahul Kumar - Defender
Deepak - Defender
Ankush - Defender
Ashish - Defender
Abhishek KS - Defender
Patna Pirates retained players
Monu - Raider
Rohit - Raider
Ranjit Venkatramana Naik - Raider
Anuj Kumar - Raider
Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh - All-rounder
Sajin Chandrasekar - All-rounder
Neeraj Kumar - Defender
Manish - Defender
Naveen Sharma - Defender
Thiyagarajan Yuvaraj - Defender
Puneri Paltan retained players
Pankaj Mohite - Raider
Aslam Inamdar - Raider
Mohit Goyat - Raider
Akash Santosh Shinde - Raider
Shubham Nitin Shelke Raider
Aditya Tushar Shinde - Raider
Govind Gurjar - All-rounder
Sanket Sawant - Defender
Sombir - Defender
Abinesh Nadarajan - Defender
Badal Taqdir Singh - Defender
Tamil Thalaivas retained players
Ajinkya Ashok Pawar - Raider
Himanshu - Raider
Narender - Raider
Jatin - Raider
Himanshu - Raider
Sahil - Defender
Ashish - Defender
Mohit - Defender
Himanshu - Defender
Abishek - Defender
Telugu Titans retained players
Ankit Beniwal - Raider
Rajnish - Raider
Vinay - Raider
Muhammed Shihas S - Defender
Palla Ramakrishna - Defender
Prince - Defender
Mohit Pahal - Defender
Mohit - Defender
Nitin - Defender
U Mumba retained players
Kamlesh - Raider
Shivam - Raider
Rupesh - Raider
Sachin - Raider
Pranay Vinay Rane - Raider
Rinku - Defender
Prince - Defender
Rahul - Defender
Shivansh Thakur - Defender
U.P. Yoddha retained players
Surender Gill - Raider
Aman - Raider
Rohit Tomar - Raider
Durgesh Kumar - Raider
Mahipal - Raider
Anil Kumar - Raider
Nitin Panwar - All-rounder
Shubham Kumar - Defender
Sumit - Defender
Ashu Singh - Defender
Nitesh Kumar - Defender
Featured photo: Twitter / Puneri Paltan
