In the grand auction a total of 422 players, including 58 overseas players, went under the hammer during the two-day of bidding battle where 87 players from the Future Heroes Kabaddi programme were also up for bidding. UP Yoddha franchise was kept busy throughout the auction as they spent a total of 393.55 to acquire the services of the 18 players. They manage to use Final Bid Match card to buy Rishank Devadiga for a sum of 1.11 crore rupees. On that note, here’s a look at the UP Yoddha team for PKL 2018.
Also read: Puneri Paltan team for PKL 2018, Team owner, Coach and Home stadium
In the raiding department Rishank Devadiga will again play a key role alongside Prashanth Kumar Rai, who was bought for a healthy sum of 79 lakh rupees and became the costliest player from Category “B”. Shrikant Jadhav will also be a healthy prospect.
The Lucknow based franchise managed to again purchase the seasoned campaigner Jeeva Kumar for a sum of 45 lakh rupees.
The all-rounders are some of the lesser heard names but can prove to be more than handy for the team.
UP Yoddha team for PKL 2018
Raiders:
Rishank Devadiga – ₹111 lakh
Prashanth Kumar Rai – ₹79 lakh
Shrikant Jadhav – ₹37 lakh
Sulieman Kabir – ₹8 lakh
Rohit Kumar Choudary – ₹8 lakh
Bhanu Pratap Tomar – ₹8 lakh
Azad Singh [NYP] – ₹6.6 lakh
Defenders:
Nitesh Kumar [Retained] – ₹6.6 lakh
Jeeva Kumar – ₹45 lakh
Sachin Kumar – ₹19.2 lakh
Nitin Mavi – ₹8 lakh
Amit- ₹8 lakh
Vishav Chaudhary – ₹5 lakh
All-rounders:
Sagar Krishna – ₹14.25 lakh
Pankaj Singh [NYP] – ₹6.6 lakh
Narender – ₹8 lakh
Seong Ryeol Kim – ₹8.2 lakh
Arkam Shaikh [NYP] – ₹6.6 lakh
UP Yodda team owner: GMR group
UP Yodda coach: J Udaya Singh
Home stadium: Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium, Lucknow
DS Verdict: The franchise lacks some of the big names leaving 4-5 players. The team is heavily relying on the young players.