Pro Kabaddi League 7 to begin from July 19

Mumbai: The seventh season of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) will be held from July 19 to October 9, an official said on Monday.

Conceding that there was a dip in season 6 viewership, PKL commissioner Anupam Goswami cited the change in the league window as the main reason as it coincided with the festival season.

"We have gone back to the original window of July in season 7 after season 6 commenced in October 2018."We will have the next season in 2020 also in July," Goswami said here, prior to the auction featuring 441 players from 13 countries.

The auction features 388 Indian and 53 overseas players.

Each of the twelve franchise teams has a purse of Rs 4.4 crore to spend at the auction after deducting from the salaries of retained players.

Goswami said while there had been an increase of 15 percent in the scoring of points between season 5 and 6, the defenders had also tackled better with an increase of 21 percent tackles between the last two seasons.