Pro Kabaddi League 9: Pardeep Narwal released, UP Yoddhas retain four other players

UP Yoddhas bought Narwal last season for a whopping price of 1.65 Crores, the highest the franchise paid for any player. 

The expectations from the Kabaddi star were immense; however, he couldn't match the expectations of both the team and the fans.

He made a total of 188 tackle points in 24 matches that he played, which is a pretty decent score; however, given the franchise's price, a lot more was expected out of the player. 

Another reason could be that if UP Yoddhas had decided to retain him, they would've had to continue with him at the same price. Now, they can acquire him at a much lower cost through an auction. 

Instead of retaining an expensive player like Pardeep Narwal, UP Yoddhas has decided to keep less costly players that played well in the last season. 

UP Yoddhas has retained four exciting players ahead of the PKL 9 Auction. Surender Gill is the first player that the franchise decided to retain.

Surender Gill was the team's highest-scoring raider in the last season. He made 189 points in total. 

Next in line is Nitesh Kumar. Nitesh Kumar led the team in the last season and gave a terrific performance. He turned out to be the team's best right corner defender, with 57 tackle points in the 24 matches he played. 

With 62 tackle points from 24 matches, Sumit Sangwan is another player retained by UP Yoddhas for season 9. 

Sumit Sangwan showed his best performance in the last season and proved to be the best defender in the team.

Lastly, Ashu Singh has also been retained by UP Yoddhas. Ashu Singh was another one of the best defenders in the last season. 

He scored 42 tackle points in 23 matches and finished the 19th position on the list of best defenders of the season. 

With Pradeep Narwal being released by the team, it remains to be seen if UP Yoddhas will acquire the Kabaddi star in the upcoming auction or if he will join another team.