PKL 10: Who are the owners of Bengaluru Bulls ?

Bengaluru Bulls are one of the 12 Franchises in the Pro Kabaddi League. They are, in fact, amongst the consistent teams in the tournament. As the name indicates, Bengaluru Bulls represents Bangalore state and was crowned the champions in the 6th edition of the Pro Kabaddi League. The franchise was the runners-up in the second edition as well. 

The Bulls enjoy an excellent record against Tamil Thalaivas, winning 8 out of their nine encounters in the history of the Pro Kabaddi League. On the other hand, they have lost most of their matches to U Mumba. In their 15 encounters, Bengaluru Bulls have managed to win just 4 matches, and lost 10 of them, with one of the games ending in a draw. 

Notably, Kanteerava Indoor Stadium is their home ground. 

Also, they are one of the teams to feature in all nine editions of the tournament. In 2014, the team was bought by Kosmik Global Media. The company is a reputable production house which focuses on documentaries and feature films. This independent production house has Uday Sinh Wala as the CEO while Raajesh Srivastav and Youla Khurana are the Vice-president and Associate Vice President respectively. 

Later, WL League Private Limited became the new owner of the Bengaluru Bulls. They are also the current owners of the franchise. 

The WL League Private Limited are a construction company located in Hyderabad. They specialize in the repair of the building and in completing those houses which are left incomplete. The company is ten years old, and the current board members and directors are Badri Narayan Choudhary Kota and Uday Sinh Wala. Notably, Uday Sinh Wala was also with Kosmik Global Media. When the Production company bought the Bengaluru Bulls franchise, he was the CEO of the company. We don't have many details regarding the connection between the two companies or how and when Uday Sinh Wala changed his position. 

Bengaluru Bulls' history in the PKL
As mentioned earlier, Bengaluru Bulls are one of the most consistent performers in the history of the Pro Kabaddi League. Coached by Randhir Singh, the team began their PKL journey with Manjit Chillar as the captain. They made it to the knock-outs in the first year, finishing the tournament in fourth spot. Then ended up as the runners-up in the 2015 edition where U Mumba were the champions. They had a couple of poor seasons followed by the win in the 2018 edition. 

In the 2019 edition, they ended in the sixth spot. Later, during the 2021/22 auction, Pawan Kumar Sehrawat was made the captain of the team. The star raider was introduced to the Pro Kabaddi League by coach Randhir Singh in season 3. However, his major slump in Season 4, pushed the franchise to leave him out in the 5th edition. 

In the PKL 5, he represented Gujarat Fortunegiants before returning to Bengaluru Bulls in season 6. He continued to play for the franchise until 2021. The team did not retain him in the last edition, and Tamil Thalaivas went on to buy him for a whopping 2.2 crores in the auction. He went on to become the highest-paid buy in the history of Pro Kabaddi League. 

Bengaluru Bulls made Mahender Singh the captain of the team in the 9th edition of the tournament. The team made it to the Eliminators by defeating Dabang Delhi in the Eliminator and then the semi-final. 

However, Jaipur Pink Panthers defeated them in the semi-final. The Pink Panthers eventually ended up lifting the trophy in the recent edition.

The team certainly had a good season last year. They are expected to retain several players because of their excellent run in the tournament last year.