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

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.

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.