Jaipur Pink Panthers won the inaugural season of the Pro Kabaddi League.
Pro Kabaddi League's Jaipur Pink Panthers owner Abhishek Bachchan on explained the idea behind not retaining any player ahead of the upcoming sixth season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), starting October 19.
The Panthers' owner while speaking to media persons on the sidelines of the ongoing PKL auctions on Wednesday said that the franchise wanted to build a new team which will be known for their winning ways.
Notably, Panthers were the inaugural PKL title holders but failed to continue with the winning momentum in the subsequent editions of the league.
"The idea is to reshuffle the side and come with a much stronger and dynamic team," Abhishek said.
"We won the inaugural season of the league but now we also want to be known as a winning team, a team with a winning attitude," he said.
With the money flowing in on the Kabaddi players on the rise since the PKL's inception in 2014, Abhishek said it was all due to the league getting bigger and better every season.
Significantly, Rakesh Kumar was the costliest player in the first season of the PKL after being purchased for Rs 12.80 lakh by Patna Pirates. Three years later in 2017, Nitin Tomar became the most expensive player after being pocketed for a whopping Rs 93 lakhs by UP Yoddhas.
"The league is getting bigger and better. The viewership has also increased almost to 10 times which shows the potential of the league," Abhishek said.
"Kabaddi is one of the few sporting leagues in India which is growing exponentially in terms of viewership. With viewership comes sponsorship which brings more money and as a result teams spend more money on players," the Bollywood actor explained.
(With IANS Inputs)
