PKL 2025: Naveen Kumar, Arjun Deshwal among players released – Complete list of retentions

The Pro Kabaddi League, on Saturday, announced the ‘Elite Retained Players’, ‘Retained Young Players’, and ‘New Young Players’ for 2025-26 season, with the player auction set to take place on May 31 and June 1 in Mumbai.

While most franchises have retained their key players, they will also be looking to build stronger units in the upcoming PKL Season 12 Player Auction.

Top players retained by their respective teams include Sunil Kumar and Amirmohammad Zafardanesh (U Mumba), Jaideep Dahiya (Haryana Steelers), Surender Gill (UP Yoddhas), and the Puneri Paltan duo of Aslam Inamdar and Mohit Goyat.

Meanwhile, a total of 83 players were retained across three categories: 25 in the Elite Retained Players (ERP) category, 23 in the Retained Young Players (RYP) category, and 35 in the New Young Players (NYP) category.

500+ players, including notable Indian players like Pawan Sehrawat, Arjun Deshwal, Ashu Malik and PKL 11's top raider Devank Dalal, are set to go under the hammer.

Iranian powerhouses Fazel Atrachali and Mohammadreza Shadloui alongside PKL veterans Maninder Singh, and Pardeep Narwal, will also enter the PKL 12 auction.

An interesting statistic to note is that star raider Naveen Kumar will go under the hammer for the first time. The PKL 8 winner will enter the auction having scored 1102 Raid Points for Dabang Delhi K.C. across six seasons.

He will be the first player in the history of the league to have 1000+ points with a single team before entering a PKL auction.

For the auction, both domestic and overseas players will be divided into four categories: A, B, C, and D. Within each category, players will be further classified as ‘All-Rounders’, ‘Defenders’, and ‘Raiders’. The base prices for each category are:

• Category A: INR 30 Lakh

• Category B: INR 20 Lakh

• Category C: INR 13 Lakh

• Category D: INR 9 Lakh

Each franchise will have a total salary purse of INR 5 Crore available for its squad.

Retained Players

Bengal Warriors: Vishwas S, Yash Malik, Manjeet, Deep Kumar, Sushil Kambrekar

Bengaluru Bulls: Chandranaik M, Lucky Kumar, Manjeet, Pankaj

Dabang Delhi: Sandeep, Mohit

Gujarat Giants: Himanshu Singh, Himanshu, Parteek Dahiya, Rakesh

Haryana Steelers: Rahul Sethpal, Vinay, Shivam Anil Patare, Jaideep, Jaya Soorya NS, Vishal S. Tate, Sahil, Manikandan N, Vikas Ramadas Jadhav

Jaipur Pink Panthers: Reza Mirbagheri, Abhishek KS, Ronak Singh, Nitin Kumar, Sombir, Ritik Sharma

Patna Pirates: Hamid Mirzaei Nader, Thiyagarajan Yuvaraj, Sudhakar M, Ayan, Navdeep, Sahil Patil, Deepak

Puneri Paltan: Abinesh Nadarajan, Gaurav Khatri, Pankaj Mohite, Aslam Imandar, Mohit Goyat, Dadaso Pujari, Aditya Shinde

Tamil Thalaivas: Moein Shafaghi, Himanshu, Sagar, Nitesh Kumar, Narender, Ronak, Vishal Chahal, Aashish, Anuj Gawade, Dhiraj Bailmare

Telugu Titans: Shankar Bhimraj Gadai, Ajit Pandurang Pawar, Ankit, Praful Zaware, Sagar, Chetan Sahu, Nitin, Rohit

U Mumba: Sunil Kumar, Rohit, Amir Mohammad Zafardanesh, Satish Kannan, Mukilan Shanmugam, Ajit Chouhan, Deepak Kundu, Lokesh Ghosliya, Sunny

UP Yoddhas: Sumit, Bhavani Rajput, Sahul Kumar, Surender Gill, Ashu Singh, Hitesh, Gagana Gowda, Shivam Chaudhary, Jayesh Mahajan, Gangaram, Sachin, Keshav Kumar