PKL auction 2024: Highlights of Day 2

On the second day of the PKL Auction 2024, the teams looked to secure bargain buys. On the first day of the auction, it seemed like the teams were ready to give the players as much money as they wanted. But on the second day, it seemed like the teams resorted to strategic buys. The focus of the teams seemed to buy players who could step up in crunch situations.

Some of the top players like Pardeep Narwal, Pawan Sehrawat, Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, Sachin, Fazel Atrachali, Ajinkya Pawar, and others went under the hammer. Most of them were sold at the highest price. For the first time in the history of the PKL, a day witnessed the most number of players being sold at a price of over 1 crore INR. 

While no player went high in price, many players were bought after a great bidding war. Bhavani Rajput, who has a fair experience in the league, was bought for a price of INR 45 lakhs by UP Yoddha. There was a huge demand for the right cover. The biggest of them was Deepak Rajendar Singh who was bought by Patna Pirates for INR 50 lakhs.

Jai Bhagwan and Ajit V Kumar steal the show

A promising defender like Gurdeep was eyed by many teams. Eventually, he was bought by Pirates for a price of INR 59 lakhs. Jai Bhagwan turned out to be the surprise package of the auction. Not many knew about his calibre. But Bengaluru Bulls knew about the 20-year-old sensation and went after him hard. They invested 63 lakhs INR in the youngster making him the second costliest player of the day.

But the biggest attention of the night was Ajit V Pawar who seemed to be in a huge demand for his raiding. After putting on consistent performances as a backup raider, Ajit might get a chance to have a bigger role in Puneri Paltan who paid INR 66 lakhs to get him. The biggest disappointment of the day was the likes of Sandeep Dhull, Amit Hooda, Rakesh Gowda, Deepak Niwas Hooda, and others going unsold.