After five successful seasons, the Pro Kabaddi League is gearing up for yet another thrilling season with the announcement of the “Elite Retained Players.” The League on Monday announced the name of the players who would continue their association with their respective franchises for the sixth edition of Pro Kabaddi League. The domestic league is scheduled to begin from October 19, 2018.
Ahead of the sixth season of the IPL, a total of 21 players from the fifth season of the league were retained by their respective franchises. Meraj Sheykh, Pardeep Narwal, Ajay Thakur and Sandeep Narwal are among the elite players who have been retained by the nine franchises.
Anupam Goswami, League Commissioner, Pro Kabaddi said, “The League is strongly in favour of team stability and instituting it at a policy level to enable strong team structures. The player retention framework has been strengthened to encourage continuity and a longer term association between player and franchise, to the benefit of both. Squad talent, formation and development have always been top priority for us. Interventions like “Elite Player Retention” and the “Future Kabaddi Heroes” programme will go a long way towards ensuring that Pro Kabaddi Season VI offers the highest level of talent and competition for India’s own sport.”
The full list of retained players is as follows:
Bengal Warriors: Surjeet Singh, Maninder Singh
Bengaluru Bulls: Rohit Kumar
Dabang Delhi: Meraj Sheykh
Gujarat Fortunegiants: Sachin, Sunil Kumar, Mahendra Ganesh Rajput
Haryana Steelers: Kuldeep Singh
Jaipur Pink Panthers: No players retained
Patna Pirates: Pardeep Narwal, Jaideep, Jawahar Dagar, Manish Kumar
Puneri Paltan: Sandeep Narwal, Rajsh Mondal, Gurunath More, Girish Ernak
Tamil Thalaivas: Ajay Thakur, C Arun, Amit Hooda
Telugu Titans: Nilesh Salunke, Mohsen Maghsoudloujafari
U Mumba: No players retained.