The Chinese Taipei star who will be spearheading the challenge of the defending champions, became the most expensive non-retained player at the auction as she was snapped by the Bengaluru franchise for INR 77 lakhs.

Rankireddy, who won the Thailand Open in August alongside Chirag Shetty, saw intense and fervent bidding from the team before the 19-year-old went to the Chennai team, rechristened as the Chennai Superstarz this time, for a whopping INR 62 lakhs.

Sindhu will again lead former Champions Hyderabad Hunters for a second consecutive season for INR 77 lakhs. The in-form Sourabh Verma will be in charge of the men’s singles challenge after being bought for INR 41lakhs and in doubles Sikki Reddy will appear for Hyderabad for the first time

The fifth season of PBL, organised by Sportzlive under the aegis of Badminton Association of India (BAI) to be played from 20th January to 9th February, will commence in Lucknow followed by matches at Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Lucknow.

Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap was the next costliest Indian shuttler to be sold to Mumbai Rockets to INR 43 lakhs. Lakshya Sen, who won four titles in the past two months, will turn out in Chennai colours after the Season 2 champions got him for INR 36 lakhs.

Korea’s World No. 22 doubles ace Ko Sung Hyun and Hong Kong’s World No. 24 singles players Lee Cheuk Yiu were the only other shuttlers to cross the INR 50-lakh mark as the former went to Awadhe Warriors for INR 55 lakhs while the latter was purchased by the North Eastern Warriors for INR 50 lakhs.

The Bengaluru Raptors will also be bolstered by the presence of World Championships bronze medallist Sai Praneeth, who renewed his ties with the team for INR 32 lakhs. The other half of India’s top men’s doubles pair, Chirag Shetty will also remain with Pune 7 Aces after they retained him for INR 15.5 lakhs.

The fifth season of the PBL will also see some of country's promising talents making their debut as the league continues to throw the spotlight on youngsters. Assam girl Ashmita Chaliha will don the jersey of North Eastern Warriors as the franchise lapped her up for INR 3 lakhs. 16-year-old Gayatri Gopichand, another of India’s upcoming stars, went to Chennai Superstarz for INR 2 lakhs.

Among the seven teams vying for the PBL5 trophy, Season 4 champions Bengaluru Raptors and Awadhe Warriors exhausted their entire purse of INR 2 crores while Pune 7 Aces went on to save the most at INR 23.5 lakhs. Pune and Chennai were the only teams to reach the maximum quota of 11 as 71 players were picked from a pool of 154 players at the end of the auction.

“I am really happy to be a part of the Chennai team. I have many friends in Chennai and I am looking forward to play there. Every time we have played here the crowd has been exceptional and to represent them this season will surely be something that I am looking forward to,” said Satwiksairaj Rankireddy ,the marquee doubles player.

“We could manage a team which is not only competitive but also have a local connect with PV Sindhu, Sikki Reddy among others being part of the team. We are confident that our fanbase will grow even further this season as we look to give the fans some memorable performances,” said Hyderabad Hunters owner Dr. VRK Rao, Chairman, Agile Group.

“We have a very good team led by world champion Hendra Setiawan, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Chris Adcock and our Indian superstar Chirag Shetty. With Rituparna Das, Mithun Manjunath and Kuhoo Garg we have a sprightly mix of youth and experience, which makes our team pretty balanced,” said Pune 7 Aces team owner Taapsee Pannu.

PBL5 - At a Glance:
Total number of Teams: 7
Total number of Venues: 4 (Hyderabad, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Chennai)
Total number of players in Auction: 154
Total number of Players sold: 71
Most Expensive Buy- Tai Tzu Ying- INR 77lac (Bengaluru Raptors)
Most Expensive Indian Buy-Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy- INR 62 lac (Chennai Superstarz)
Expensive Debut- Ashmita Chaliha INR 3 lac (North Eastern Warriors)
Auction purse for each Team: INR 2 crore
Player cap: INR 77 lakhs
Minimum Players per Team: 9
Maximum Players per Team: 11
Maximum Number of Foreign Players per Team: 6
Minimum Number of female shuttlers per Team: 3
Total Prize Money: INR 6 crores
Broadcaster: Star Sports/Hotstar