Pro Kabaddi League: UP Yoddha bag Pardeep Narwal for record Rs 1.65 crore

Siddharth Desai and Pardeep Narwal

India's most prolific raider Pardeep Narwal has another record to his name after fetching a whooping Rs 1.65 crore from UP Yoddha during the players auction for the upcoming Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season-8 at a city hotel yesterday.

Monu Goyat previously held the record of being the PKL's most costliest player when he was bought for Rs 1.51 crore by Haryana Steelers for Season 6.

India's 2016 Ahmedabad World Cup-winner, Narwal was a key member of the Patna Pirates, leading them to three straight PKL titles across 2016-17. Narwal had a base price of Rs 30 lakh.

"I feel very good that UP Yoddha have picked me. I was in the auction for the first time, so it's a good feeling that some other team purchased me. I was expecting to get between Rs 1.50 to Rs 2 crore," Narwal said after the auction.

Another ace raider Siddharth Desai, who had also a base price of Rs 30 lakh, was retained by the Telugu Titans for R1.30 crore. The UP team had bid the same amount but TT used the Final Bid Match card (FBM) to retain their match-winner.

Meanwhile, the Puneri Paltans were lucky to have Rahul Chaudhri for just Rs 40 lakhs. PKL-8 is expected to start in December.