By Chathura Ranasinghe

[caption id="attachment_158435" align="alignleft" width="299"] At the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) auction in Mumbai, India Anwar Saheed Baba has been bought for Indian Rupees 1 million by one of the franchises, Tamil Thalaivas[/caption]

Sri Lanka kabaddi player, Anwar Saheed Baba, has been bought by one of the franchises of perhaps the biggest franchise leagues of the sport, the Pro Kabaddi League or PKL in India.

This marks the first occasion a Sri Lankan had been bought by a pro kabaddi league auction in the history of sports in the island. Kabaddi is almost synonymous with one of the oldest traditional sports in Sri Lanka named Chaggudu or Gudu.

Yesterday, the third day of the PKL player auction, the 12 franchises had bought the required number of 14 players for each squad.

Twenty-two foreign players

A total of 22 overseas players had been bough for the PKL this year whilst 20 found no takers. Those overseas players who had been bought came from Bangladesh, Iran, Japan, Kenya, and Rep. of Korea.

But, any way, before on various occasions, Sri Lankans had been featuring in various squads of the PKL franchises.

The PKL player auction was held from 29 to 31 August (yesterday) in Mumbai. Pardeep Narwal became the costliest player in the auction this time. He had been sold for a record pro-kabaddi prize of Indian Rs. 1.56 crore (SL Rs. 42.6 lakhs) by franchise UP Yoddha.

Baba sold for 27 lakhs

At this week’s auction, Saheed Baba has been bought for Indian Rupees 1 million or Rs. 27 lakhs in Sri Lankan Rupees by one of the franchises, Tamil Thalaivas.

Babar, who had studied at President’s College, Embilipitiya, plays kabaddi for the Sri Lanka national team and Navy.

Reportedly, leading Sri Lanka players Aslam Sally and Lahiru Kuruppu too were in the auction of the 12-team PKL, slated to begin in December.

Like IPL

The PKL is a professional kabaddi league, launched in 2014 and is broadcast live on TV with considerable fan following. The Season 8, which was scheduled to be held in 2020, was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The lucrative franchise model became extremely popular in the South Asian region’s sports after the launch of the annual Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket competition in 2008.

Incidentally, the IPL main sponsor Vivo, the China-based mobile-phone manufacturer, sponsors the PKL too.