Pro Kabaddi League Season 5: Here's everything you need to know about 2017 edition

New Delhi: The VIVO Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 is upon us, with the first match taking place on July 28 in Hyderabad as Telegu Titans take on Tamil Thalaivas. The new season will be bigger than ever – with 12 teams from 11 states contesting over 130 matches.

Tournament structure:

The 12 teams have been divided into two zones A and B, with six teams each, where each will be playing 15 intra-zone and 7 inter-zone matches, prior to the play offs. The 13-week long season will have top three teams from each zone qualifying for the play offs.

The winner of Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2 will play the first Eliminator 1. The winner of Qualifier 3 moves into the final directly and the loser has to play with the Winner of Eliminator 1 in the Eliminator 2, the winner of which goes to the final.

The play offs will be played in Mumbai and Chennai.

READ: Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 - List of teams and squad rosters

Teams:

Zone A: Dabang Delhi, Jaipur Pink Panthers, Puneri Paltan, U Mumba, Haryana Steelers and Gujarat Fortunegiants.

Zone B: Telugu Titans, Bengaluru Bulls, Patna Pirates, Bengal Warriors, UP Yodhas and Tamil Thalaivas.

Team Captains:

Jang Kun Lee (Bengal Warriors), Rohit Kumar (Bengaluru Bulls), Meeraj Sheykh (Dabang Delhi), Sukesh Hegde (Gujarat Fortunegiants), Surender Nada (Haryana Steelers), Jasvir Singh (Jaipur Pink Panthers), Pardeep Narwal (Patna Pirates), Deepak Hooda (Puneri Paltan), Anup Kumar (U Mumba), Nitin Tomar (UP Yodha),  Ajay Thakur (Tamil Thalaivas), Rahul Chaudhari (Telugu Titans)

Prize Money:

A total of Rs 8 crores have been kept as prize money for the 2017 edition. The team to win the title will be getting a whopping Rs 3 crores, while the runners-up will be awarded Rs 1.8 crores and the team to finish in the third place will win Rs 1.2 crores.

The Most Valuable Player of the tournament will be awarded Rs 15 lakhs. Anup Kumar, Manjeet Chhillar, Rohit Kumar and Pardeep Narwal are the MVPs of previous editions.

Auctions:

Over 350 players went under the hammer in the 2017 auction – both domestic and international. 52 players, who were grouped under Young Players’category.

Nitin Tomar, was most expensive player in the auction after being roped in for Rs 93 lakh UP Yodha. Rohit Kumar, Manjeet Chhillar and Selvamani K, Surjeet Singh are the other top purchases from this year's auction and would be under spotlight to live up to their price tag.

Players Retained:

Each team was allowed to retain one player each.

Patna Pirates: Pardeep Narwal; Telugu Titans: Rahul Chaudhari; Puneri Paltan: Deepak Niwas Hooda; U Mumba: Anup Kumar; Bengaluru Bulls: Ashish Sangwan; Dabang Delhi: Meyraj Sheykh; Bengal Warriors: Jang Kun Lee.

Previous Champions: 

Season 1

Winners - Jaipur Pink Panters | Best Raider - Rahul Chaudhari

Season 2

Winners - U Mumba  | Best Raider - Kashiling Adake
Season 3

Winners - Patna pirates | Best Raider - Rishank Devadiga

Season 4

Winners - Patna pirates | Best Raider - Rahul Chaudhari

Overseas Players: 

A total of 27 overseas players will be participating in the fifth season including players from Iran, England, Kenya, Bangladesh, Japan, Thailand and South Korea.