The captain of Indian hockey side became the most expensive player on Day 1 of the Hockey India League auction on October 13. As HIL made a comeback after a long hiatus of seven years, Harmanpreet's name started a bidding war. He was roped in for Rs 78 lakh by Soorma Hockey Club.
Harmanpreet's teammates Hardik Singh (Rs 70 lakh) and Abhishek (Rs 72 lakh) got close to his bid as well. Forward Abhishek will represent Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers whereas Hardik will be in the midfield for UP Rudras.
Amongst overseas recruits, German defender Gonzalo Peillat was most expensive at Rs 68 lakh. Peillat will defend for Hyderabad Toofans.
Among goalkeepers Ireland's David Harte and India’s Krishan Bahadur Pathak are the joint-most expensive at Rs 32 lakh. Pathak and Harte will represent Vedanta Kalinga Lancers and Tamil Nadu Dragons respectively.
Here is a list of squads of all eight franchises
Soorma Hockey Club
Dayaan Cassiem - 25 lakh, Gurjant Singh - 19 lakh, Vivek Sagar Prasad - 40 lakh, Harmanpreet Singh - 78 lakh, Jeremy Hayward - 42 lakh, Gurinder Singh - 11 lakh, Vincent Vanasch - 23 lakh, Victor Wegnez - 40 lakh, Nicolas Della Torre - 14 lakh
Tamil Nadu Dragons
Duco Telgenkamp - 36 lakh, Selvam Karthi - 24 lakh, Jip Janssen - 54 lakh, Amit Rohidas - 48 lakh, Kothajit Singh - 10 lakh, David Harte - 32 lakh, Tom Craig - 20 lakh, Moritz Ludwig - 10 lakh, Thies Prinz - 18 lakh, Mohammad Raheel - 26 lakh
UP Rudras
Lalit Kumar Upadhyaya - 28 lakh, Alvaro Iglesias - 12 lakh, Hardik Singh - 70 lakh, Lars Balk - 40 lakh, Kane Russell - 30 lakh, Surender Kumar - 14 lakh, Tanguy Cosyns - 10 lakh, Marc Recasens - 15 lakh, Akashdeep Singh - 20 lakh, Simranjeet Singh - 10 lakh, Floris Wortelboer - 27 lakh
Delhi SG Pipers
Shamsher Singh - 42 lakh, Raj Kumar Pal - 40 lakh, Rohit - 40 lakh, Jarmanpreet Singh - 38 lakh, Varun Kumar - 34 lakh, Pawan - 15 lakh, Tomas Santiago - 10 lakh, Ky Willot - 10.5 lakh, Ankit Pal - 20 lakh, Tomas Domene - 36 lakh, Pau Clapes - 10 lakh, Christopher Ruhr - 18 lakh, Flynn Ogilvie - 10 lakh, Nicolas de Kerpel - 10 lakh
Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers
Abhishek - 72 lakh, Sukhjeet Singh - 42 lakh, Florent van Aubel - 25 lakh, Jugraj Singh - 48 lakh, Gauthier Boccard - 18 lakh, Hayden Beltz - 13 lakh, Rupinder Pal Singh - Rs 12.5 lakh, Pirmin Blaak - 25 lakh, Lachlan Sharp - 18 lakh, Jaskaran Singh - 13.5 lakh, Tom Grambusch - 10 lakh, Sam Lane - 27 lakh
Vedanta Kalinga Lancers
Dilpreet Singh - 34 lakh, Boby Singh Dhami - 20 lakh, Sanjay - 38 lakh, Mandeep Mor - 19 lakh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak - 32 lakh, Aran Zalewski - 27 lakh, Moirangthem Rabichandra - 32 lakh, Thierry Brinkman - 38 lakh, Enrique Gonzalez - 10 lakh
Hyderabad Toofans
Shilanand Lakra - 21 lakh, Nilakanta Sharma - 34 lakh, Gonzalo Peillat - 68 lakh, Sumit Walmiki - 46 lakh, Jean-Paul Danneberg - 27 lakh, Zach Wallace - 26 lakh, Timothy Daniel - 28 lakh, Terrence Pieters - 10 lakh, Matthew Dawson - 10 lakh
Team Gonasika
Araijeet Singh Hundal - 42 lakh, Mandeep Singh - 25 lakh, Jeroen Hertzberger - 21 lakh, Manpreet Singh - 42 lakh, Amir Ali - 34 lakh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess - 17 lakh, Yogember Rawat - 11 lakh, Birendra Lakra - 10 lakh, Suraj Karkera - 22 lakh, Ollie Payne - 15 lakh, Vishnukant Singh - 20 lakh, Tom Boon - 26 lakh, Timothy Howard - 20 lakh
Note: The list will be updated after Day 2 of the auction.
