MUMBAI: Iran's Fazel Atrachali today became the first player in the history of Pro Kabaddi League to enter the 1 crore club after he was fetched by U Mumba, in the auctions here.
Intense bidding went for the defender, whose base prize was set at Rs 20 lakhs, but in the end U Mumba came out winners.
Fazel's Iranian counterpart Abozar went to Telugu Titans for Rs 76 lakhs, while Jang Kun Lee returned to Bengal Warriors, who exercised their Final Bid Match card to retain him for Rs 33 lakhs.
The auction for Indian players will take place later tonight.
On the big purchase, U Mumba team owner, Ronnie Screwvala said, W"e wanted to be strong in defence. We had an extremely strong defence in season 1 and season 2 and that was part of the reason why we bargained for Fazal so fiercely. Fazal is someone who has played with us and we are quite happy to have him back."
"We wanted to be sure that we got who we wanted rather than going right till the end and then have to hastily pick a player. You need a minimum of two international players, instead we picked three.
We are happy to have the ex-Iranian coach Golan Raza as our coach and his insight helps us to pick international talents right in the beginning."
Fazel said that he was very happy to be back to his "second home" U Mumba.
"I have immense respect for the U Mumba team because it is where it all began for me. The fact that I beat the record for the highest bid in Pro Kabaddi is truly an incredible feeling," he said.