Auction Deep Dive : Why did U Mumba not retain Siddharth Desai?

Siddharth Sirish Desai, announced his arrival in his first match of PKL6 when UMumba took on the well fortified defense of Puneri Paltan aka Sandeep Narwal and Girish Ernak. Siddharth Desai scored an unbelievable 11.3 net points in his very first match. Everyone was stunned! 

Siddharth Desai's staggering stats include 12 Super 10's, 10 super raids in PKL6 and a mouth watering strike rate of 89% in Do or Die raids.

Siddharth Desai could very well be the next biggest name in Indian Kabaddi, of course along with Pawan Sherawat. Siddharth Desai has 2 huge positives (literally!) - his height making his running hand touch in the league of Ajay Thakur and his strength comparable only to Maninder Singh. 

Watch Siddharth Desai's Unstoppable raids, only on Kabaddi Adda. 

He continued this form in the Railways Nationals, where South Central Railways beat Pawan Sherawat's Northern Railways by a comfortable 14 points to win the title. Siddharth scored 56 points in 5 matches at a stupendous strike rate of 76%. 

Siddharth was the 3rd best raider in PKL 6. And the best raider in Zone A, with Deepak Hooda coming 2nd. Nitin Tomar did well for Puneri Paltan, however didn't take them over the finish line often. 

So when news came out that U Mumba is not retaining Siddharth Desai, it came as a big surprise for everyone. Siddharth had burnt some bridges recently with Railways, by deciding to play for Maharashtra in the Nationals (which he eventually could not).

Siddharth Desai's form in PKL6 dipped slightly during the 2nd half

Siddharth amassed 218 raid points at 10.38 a game, behind only Pawan Sehrawat and Pardeep Narwal. His staggering stats include 12 Super 10's, 10 super raids in PKL6 and a mouth watering strike rate of 89% in Do or Die raids. Unluckily, Siddharth performed poorly in the last 2 matches of the season, both against UP Yoddhas, resulting in the team crashing out of the playoffs. 

Siddharth Desai, a U Mumba centrepiece

Siddharth headed the U Mumba raiding department scoring twice the number of raid points (221) than the next-best U Mumba raider, Rohit Baliyan (108). However, he was one of most heavily utilised players on mat in Zone A, going for roughly 40% of the raids. So if he was on the mat for 50 raids in a match, U Mumba were likely to send him for 20 raids. Siddharth clearly played a massive role in U Mumba's success last season. 

What will be Siddharth Desai's price in PKL7 auctions?

In the 2nd half of PKL6, Siddharth showed signs of a shoulder injury, definitely affecting his performance on the mat. With PKL7 starting in June 2019, hopefully he will completely recover from this injury. Siddharth is 27 unlike Pawan Sherawat and Pardeep Narwal who are brimming in their early twenties. So it will take Siddharth significantly longer to recover to full fitness. I am sure this concern played a strong role, when U Mumba decided to brave face the auction sharks by releasing Siddharth. 

Assuming Siddharth scores around 225 points in PKL7, his price should hover around 1.25 Crores in PKL7 auctions, if not more!

Without question, Desai will be one of the biggest names in PKL7 auctions. He is one raider who bring ~10-11 points in every match. In PKL7, we can expect Desai to score 200-250 points (fingers crossed about the shoulder injury!). He is definitely a central raider around which the rest of the team can play. The average cost of every point a raider scores is ~Rs 55000, assuming Siddharth scores around 225 points in PKL7, his price should hover around 1.25 Crores in PKL7 Auctions.

*Jargon: 
Net Points : Points scored minus points lost by the player
Time on Mat : %Time spent on mat
% Utilization : %Raids while raider was on mat and had gone to raid