The season, which runs until 5 January 2019, will see matches aired from 7.30pm on Star Sports 1 in Hindi, Star Sports 2, free-to-air channel Star Sports First, Star Sports 1 in Tamil, regional Kannada channel Star Suvarna Plus and Telugu channel Star Maa Gold.

The inaugural ceremony saw celebrities Shruti Hassan and Tamil Nadu’s Vijay Sethupathi cheering on their favourite teams as defending champions Patna Pirates faced home team Tamil Thalaivas (pictured).

VIVO Pro Kabaddi was launched in 2014 by organiser Mashal Sports to reinvigorate kabaddi, shaping it into a modern sport for a mass audience across India. It is most popular in AP / Telangana, followed by Maharashtra / Goa and Karnataka.

Of those watching last year’s league live on TV, 74% came from rural India, according to data from Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India. In total, PKL season five gained 1.6 billion impressions from the live broadcast on seven Star India channels. The PKL final in 2017 gained 25.4 million impressions, up from 13.9 million the year before .

To help promote the sport among youngsters, Star Sports has launched KBD Juniors season 2, action from which will be broadcast on the network and streamed on Hotstar  alongside this season’s PKL. The tournament features 24 schools across 12 cities, with 3,500 students aged 11 and 12 trying to reach the final.