India's HS Prannoy became the costliest buy at the players auction of the Premier Badminton League after getting a bid of Rs. 62 lakh from Ahmedabad Smash Masters in Hyderabad on Monday. PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth Kidambi were retained by their respective franchises.
He was a revelation in PBL Season 2 and the expectations will be higher from him this time around. Watch out for HS Prannoy! #PBLAuction pic.twitter.com/gOXnlVeLo2
- PBL India (@PBLIndiaLive) 9 October 2017
The retained players will get a 25% hike in their salary from last year, while players who re bought by using the 'Right-To-Match' card will get a 10% increase from last year.
Defending champions Chennai Smashers retained Olympic silver-medallist Sindhu for Rs. 48.75 lakhs. The 22-year-old, who recently won a silver at the World Championship in Glasgow and clinched the Korea Super Series, had fetched Rs. 39 lakhs during the last auction. Saina, who had returned with a bronze medal from Glasgow, was retained for Rs 41,25,000 by Awadhe Warriors. Srikanth, who clinched back-to-back titles at the Indonesia and Australia Superseries tournaments, will also play for his old team Awadhe after they retained him through the 'Right-To-Match' card, he will earn Rs. 56,10,000.
India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Korea's Lee Yong Dae and Russia's Vladimir Ivanov (all doubles specialists) were all retained by their old teams.
Here are the baddies who have been retained by their respective teams. Their retention costs will be disclosed shortly! #PBLAuction pic.twitter.com/Ii4l0u0GVF
- PBL India (@PBLIndiaLive) 9 October 2017
The six existing teams could retain one player each and use one right-to-match card, while the two new teams (North Eastern Warriors and Ahmedabad) could use one right-to-match card to bid for players who are making their debut in the PBL.
Each franchise will have 11 players with a maximum of five foreign players and minimum of three women players and each team needed to spend a minimum of Rs. 2.12 crore.
Women's singles world no. 1 Tai Tzu Ying, who will be making her debut in the league, was bought by Ahmedabad for Rs. 52 lakh. Olympic champion Carolina Marin (Spain) was bought by Hyderabad Hunters, the team she represented last season, at her base price of Rs. 50 lakh.
Newly-crowned world champion and world no. 1 Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) was bought by his old team Bengaluru Blasters for Rs. 50 lakh, while world no. 2 Son Wan Ho and women's world no. 5 Sung Ji Hyun went to Delhi Acers for Rs. 50 lakh each. Chinese Taipei's Tzu Wei Wang, who is ranked 10th in the world in men's singles, was bought by North Eastern Warriors for Rs. 52 lakh.
Olympics women's doubles silver-medallist Christinna Pedersen was bought by Awadhe for Rs. 42 lakh. Pedersen's partner Kamilla Rytter Juhl went to Ahmedabad for Rs. 35 lakh.
Doubles specialists Prajakta Sawant and Chirag Shetty were bought by North Eastern for Rs. 7 lakhs and 5 lakhs respectively. Ashwini Ponnappa went to Delhi for Rs. 20 lacs, while Manu Attri was picked by Bengaluru for Rs. 17 lakh.
India's top mixed doubles player Pranaav Jerry Chopra was bought by Delhi for Rs. 18 lakh, while young doubles player Arathi Sara Sunil will make her PBL debut for Delhi, who bought her for Rs. 3 lakhs.