PBL 2019 | Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, K Srikanth clinch maximum price at PBL auction

The biggest names in Indian badminton found out their fate for the upcoming season of the Pro Badminton League at Monday’s auction. Leading stars like Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy were all picked up by the teams in a bidding war that reached the maximum price of Rs. 80 lakh per player.

Nehwal, who won the Commonwealth Games gold and Asian Games bronze earlier this year, surprisingly went unsold in the first round of auctioning. However, she was later won by the North Eastern Warriors after a lucky draw, after the bidding reached the maximum limit of Rs. 80 lakh. 

Sindhu will team up with the Hyderabad Hunters, Srikanth with the Bengaluru Raptors, and Prannoy went to Delhi Dashers, all via the lucky draw system after each bid fetched the maximum amount. World champion Carolina Marin was picked up by the latest franchise to join PBL, Pune 7 Aces, after her name also went into the lucky draw once bidding touched Rs 80 lakh.

Former world number one, Viktor Axelsen, was awarded to the Ahmedabad Smash Masters for Rs 80 lakh. Meanwhile, Korea’s Son Wan Ho will play for Awadhe Warriors, who paid Rs 70 lakh for his services. India’s young doubles specialist Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was picked up by the Ahmedabad franchise after an intense bidding war. They will shell out a cool Rs 52 lakh for the 18-year-old player.

Of all the nine franchises, only Mumbai Rockets and Awadhe Warriors utilised their total purse of Rs 2.6 crore. Ahmedabad Smash Masters were left with Rs 1 lakh, while Delhi Dashers and Hyderabad Hunters both had Rs 2 lakh at the end of the auction. Meanwhile, Chennai Smashers had Rs 19 lakh left in their kitty.