At the fag end of the auction on Day 1, Raider Monu Goyat attracted a fierce bidding war which saw him become the first athlete in the history of Pro Kabaddi League to break the Rs 1.5 crore barrier. Eventually, Haryana Steelers outbid Dabang Delhi to take home Monu for Rs 1.51 crore.
Monu, who was with the Patna Pirates last season, outperformed fellow raider Rahul Chaudhari, whose fame of being the highest paid in the Pro Kabaddi League was short lived.
In what was the most heated bidding war of the evening, Monu Goyat’s price went from a mere Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1.1 crore with just seven bids. U Mumba and Dabang Delhi KC raised their paddles over and over again, before the Steelers came in with a swift bid of Rs 1.39 crore. After bids of Rs 1.44 crore from U Mumba and Rs 1.45 crore, the Steelers camp named their price at Rs 1.49 crore. As Chris Cowdrey’s hand went up with the hammer, Delhi raised their price to Rs 1.5 crore only for the Steelers to return with a record and final bid of Rs 1.51 crore, making Goyat the most expensive player in Pro Kabaddi League history.
Rahul was picked up by his former team Telugu Titans for Rs 1.29 crore, after they used their ‘Final Bid Match’ card to outdo Dabang Delhi, who had successfully bid for the raider.
Monu Goyat was the unsung hero for the Patna Pirates last season. Second-in-command to Pardeep Narwal, Monu was an extremely effective raider who backed up Narwal’s efforts with some deadly raiding of his own. He finished fourth among the raiders with 202 points last season.
Prior to the fifth season, Monu played for the Bengal Warriors in season four. In his two years in the PKL, the Haryana born raider has raked in 250 raid points from 39 matches at an average of 6.4 points per match.
Monu was instrumental in helping Services clinch the third Senior Federation Cup Kabaddi tournament against Karnataka this year. The 25-year-old raider picked up two crucial points in his raids in the dying minutes to swing the encounter back in Services' favour with a 25-24 lead. In the semi-final, too, a fine show from Goyat helped Services come from behind to beat Haryana 38-31.
Meanwhile, Rahul Chaudhari was very thrilled to be back with the Titans. Earlier, Titans’ decision not to retain him raised quite a few eyebrows. The Himachal Pradesh-born raider has been one of the best raiders in the current lot. With 666 raid points in 79 matches at an average of 8.43 points per match, Rahul has been one of the consistent performers in the kabaddi league.
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