PKL 12 auction likely to take place in mid-May 2025
Haryana Steelers are the defending champions of PKL.
The player auction for the 12th season of the Pro Kabaddi League is likely to be held in the third week of May. The second most popular franchise league in India, PKL, will enter its 12th edition this year. The first activity before every season is the player auction, where all players will be under the hammer, trying to grab massive price tags.
The auction is likely to take place between May 18 to 25. This window seems to be an ideal option, especially for the official broadcasters, Star Sports and Hotstar (Rebranded as JioHotstar).
Sports lovers are glued to their television sets and streaming platforms to watch this grand event. The league stage of the competition will end on May 18. There will be a break for a day before the playoff begins, and it would be an ideal slot for the PKL organisers to conduct the auction in the peak summer holidays.
PKL teams operate throughout the year, and several franchises such as Tamil Thalaivas, Patna Pirates, and Jaipur Pink Panthers have made changes to their coaching staff just days after Haryana Steelers won their maiden PKL title in Season 11. Tamil Thalaivas also released some of their big names after appointing title-winning coach Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan as their head coach.
The tournament organisers might have indicated the same to the franchises. Organisers released the players’ categorization list for PKL 12, which would be the guidelines for franchises to retain their players and their respective prices. It will be interesting to see who will be included in the retention list and who will be the top players in the auction pool.
Haryana Steelers won the title in season 11, and now the big question is whether they will retain Mohammadreza Shadlooi or not. Ironically, the season 10 champions released him ahead of the auction last year, and they failed to make it to the playoffs.
Pardeep Narwal, Sachin Tanwar, and Krishan Dhull had off-seasons. Headliners Maninder Singh and Naveen Kumar had a season to forget, both in terms of form and fitness. It will be interesting to see the franchise’s decision on these players.
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Like many 90s kids, Siddharth dreamt of being a cricketer but ended up studying Engineering. But his passion for sports never left him, as he started writing and talking about it. He worked as a commentator for the Tamil Nadu Premier League and has been writing about all other sports since 2017. Any day, if there is an Indian playing in any sport, Sid will be watching.