Pro Kabaddi League 2017 | List of retained players announced
The 8 teams that competed in the Pro Kabaddi League last year announced each of their retained player that will not feature on the auction roster to be held on May 22nd. After the inclusion of 4 new teams, the tournament has now turned into a 12-team affair and is scheduled to start in July.
The PKL will be played over a span of three months and will feature over 130 matches. The retained players name consist of some surprising picks apart from the predicted ones.
Here is the list of players retained for each team
Patna Pirates
Patna Pirates were most likely to retain their star
Telugu Titans
Titans retained Rahul Chaudhari who topped the raiders board with a total of 110 successful raids. He has been a part of the team since its inception and was also a part of the Indian team which won the inaugural Kabaddi World Cup last year.
Jaipur Pink Panthers
Last year's runners-up did not retain any of their players that consisted of successful names such as Jasvir Singh, Rajesh Narwal, the table-topper in terms of successful tackles, Amit Hooda, and the experienced Shabeer Bapu.
Puneri Paltan
The Pune side would have had a tough time choosing the player to retain as the team was graced by the likes of Manjeet Chillar, Ajay Thakur, and Deepak Niwas Hooda all of whom had been a part of India's 2016 World Cup winning team. The franchise picked the youngest of the lot Deepak Hooda who is known for his attacking as well as defensive capabilities over the ever reliable Thakur.
U Mumba
The Mumbai side made it to the finals in the second and third edition of the tournament and narrowly missed a spot in the semi-finals last year. The franchise has retained the Indian captain Anup Kumar for yet another season knowing fully well that he would be very difficult to reacquire should he enter the auction.
Bengaluru Bulls
The franchise was most likely to retain Mohit Chillar who is the most expensive player in the history of PKL but instead shocked everyone with their choice who was Ashish Sangwan. Mohit secured the 3rd spot in the successful tackles player but was overlooked for Sangwan. The Bulls appear to be thinking long term and clearing up some money for the mega auction this year.
Dabang Delhi
Delhi retained their foreign representative Meyraj
Bengal Warriors
They were at the bottom of the table at the end of the fourth season of the tournament and have retained their star performer Jang Kun Lee. Lee's
