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The ninth season of the Pro Kabaddi League is slated to commence in the month of October and kabaddi lovers in the country are gearing up to witness some high-octane battle on the mat once again. After successfully completing two-day PKL auctions, franchises have started their preparations for a highly-competitive edition.
A source in the know of developments has told SportsTiger that Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai have been finalized as the four venues for the ninth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League. Moreover, the season opener will take place in Bangalore with the finale set to be staged in Mumbai.
The fresh development in regards to the ninth edition of the PKL will surely excite Kabaddi fans in these cities as they can now directly witness the action on the mat. The last season of the Pro Kabaddi League was held entirely in Bangalore due to the COVID-19 virus and all the matches were held at the same venue maintaining COVID precautions of the highest degree.
Considering the drop in COVID cases, four cities have been opted by the organizers to hold the month-long tournament. Earlier, a two-day auction was held on August 5 and 6 and it grabbed a lot of limelight as star raider Pawan Sehrawat became the most expensive player in the history of the Pro Kabaddi League auction after being bought by Tamil Thalaivas for a whopping sum of INR 2.26 Crore.
Interestingly, Pawan Sehrawat and Vikash Kandola exchanged their franchises as the latter was roped in by Bengaluru Bulls for INR 1.70 crore. The raider became the second-most expensive buy ever in the PKL. Last season, Dabang Delhi raider Naveen Kumar was awarded Most Valuable Player for his 207 raid points in 17 matches which guided Delhi to its maiden PKL title. Dabang Delhi outplayed Patna Pirates in the summit-clash 37-36 in a thriller of a contest to join the list of Pro Kabaddi League winners.