The PKL is back, and here’s your season guide: part two
With massive rejigs in squads and scope for new fan loyalties, the Pro Kabaddi League is back with three months of high-octane action. In the second of a two-part season preview, here's everything you need to know about the tournament and the teams in th
Clockwise: Bengal Warriors, Bengaluru Bulls, Gujarat Giants, Haryana Steelers, Puneri Paltan, and U Mumba.SPECIAL
The auction ahead of season 10 of the Pro Kabaddi League tossed up team combinations drastically for some sides while allowing price corrections and core retention for others. As a brand new season comes calling, we take a look at whether these newlook teams can give the settled outfits a run for their money; whether old hegemonies will be revived or new legacies await their crowning moment.
BENGAL WARRIORS
Winner (S7)
An outfit with a stable think tank, Warriors, who won the seventh edition of the league, will head into the 10th edition with the services of skipper Maninder Singh. After releasing him, the side was determined to get him back in the auction exercise and have built their squad around ‘Mighty Mani’.
Raiding Maninder returning to the Bengal fold is a big win. He is a raider who can win matches singlehandedly and is the secondmost successful raider of all time in PKL history with 1231 raid points. Maninder often lacks support in raiding but Shrikant Jadhav and new Taiwanese prospect ChaiMing Chang could be options to explore for the side.
Defense. Ever since Iranian Mohammad Nabibakhsh’s departure, Maninder has not found ample allround assistance in raiding and revival. That gap continues in season 10. Injuries have weakened the left defence of the Warriors and without established names, this could be a point to exploit for rivals during the season. A lot will depend on the seasoned Shubham Shinde and young Vaibhav Garje.
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BENGALURU BULLS
Winner (S6)
The only team to persist with the same coach(Randhir Sehrawat) in all seasons so far, Bulls believe in stability. Randhir is grooming young Bharat Hooda to be for this team what Pawan Sehrawat was during his stint with the franchise (he led the side to the title). Vikash Kandola’s release ahead of the auction and then subsequent retention using Final Bid Match (FBM) isn’t the best picture of confidence for the raider but he has the settled unit of Bharat and Neeraj Narwal to sink into in this lineup.The bigger resource in raid might be Abhishek Singh, who previously played for U Mumba and Telugu Titans. Injuries hampered him multiple times and Bulls will hope he stays fit for the tenth chapter of the league.
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Defensive solidity — With the likes of Surjeet SIngh, Saurabh Nandal, Aman and others, Randhir has ensured he has safety nets for almost every position. His faith in an aging allrounder like Ran Singh also underlines the very same. The team has tried to double up all corners and are easily one of the most balanced sides of the season.
Picking fame over form — While Ran Singh, Surjeet, and Vikash are not easy customers, their recent run in the league doesn’t inspire confidence. The Bulls also have a Polish raider, Piotr Pamulak but have historically been stingy about how they use their fringe foreign recruits. How Randhir rotates his squad will be key to this side’s success.
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GUJARAT GIANTS
Coach Ram Mehar Singh is a taskmaster. He is clear about how he wants his team to line up and the formations he hopes to see on the mat. He’s a little too much of a perfectionist sometimes. This explains why he has gone for someone as seasoned as Iranian warhorse Fazel Atrachali to captain the side. Fazel comes with Nabibakhsh, with the duo operating better as a cornercover pair. To balance that experience, the side has retained its young core. Players like Rakesh, Parteek Dahiya and Arkham Shaikh (who like Maninder, was retained using the Final
Bid Match option).
Defence. This might be among the most formidable backlines in the league with the Iranian firepower balancing itself with experienced Indian campaigners like Sombir. Ram Mehar is a good mentor and Arkham Shaikh and Parteek Dahiya may find other facets to their operations on the mat in the company of other league legends.
Gujarat doesn’t have starpower in the raiding department but
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it isn’t something coach Ram Mehar is sweating about. He has time to cast Rakesh and Parteek into the mould the league demands, but so much depending on such young shoulders might be a tricky proposition for the Giants.
HARYANA STEELERS
The Steelers have rotated coaches and squads in trying to find a successful combination of players and tactics but have fallen short. The side finished in the bottom half of the table and the consistent underperformance won’t sit well with a feisty coach like Manpreet Singh. The young gaffer has in his arsenal the explosive capabilities of Siddharth Desai who looks leaner and meaner heading into the season. After injuries hampered much of his season over the past two years, Desai has a point to prove with a franchise that has some naysayers to quieten.
Backup. Desai has raiders to fall back on should the going get tough with the likes of Chandran Ranjith, K Prapanjan and Vinay at his disposal. If Desai has revival assistance, he can be unstoppable and is handy in defence too.
Much faith was placed in the JaideepMohit cover combo last season and while the duo found rhythm eventually, the warmup phase cost the side. That explains why the Steelers have fortified their defensive arsenal with a crop of young players. The outfit needs to help Desai stay on the mat and will hope to rally around the star raider in season 10.
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PUNERI PALTAN
All the hard work done by this franchise over the years, particularly with its academy setup alongside roping in the experience of Fazel and Nabi seemed like the perfect winning formula for the Paltan. However, the side finished as runnerup in a heartbreaking loss to Jaipur Pink Panthers last season a game that saw the occasion get to the young players in crunch phases. This time, the Paltan have swapped out two mighty Iranians for one Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, an imperious allrounder who can turn games around their head.
The Pune brand of young
Strength:
raiding blood consisting of homegrown youth setup talent has been one of the franchise’s biggest strengths. Adding Chiyaneh to that mix seems to be a masterstroke in terms of elevating the side’s performance to another level.
Who will calm these feisty youngsters down? Captain Aslam Inamdar, star player Chiyaneh and a bunch of others in this side can take hasty calls when they have their backs to a wall. The potential consequences of the absence of a senior (what Fazel was to this side last season) might be something coach BC Ramesh will want to iron out before the season gets underway.
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U MUMBA
Winner (S2)
Looking to regain the championship title, U Mumba has brought back some of its proven stalwarts. Jeeva Kumar, who won the league with the franchise is back in the coaching setup. Gholamreza Mazandarani, who has coached Mumba before and was at the helm for Telugu Titans’ purple patch in PKL history, is also back as head coach. What sets this side apart, however, is its investment in a group of Iranian youngsters who impressed against India on the international stage this year Amirmohammad Zafardanesh and Alireza Mirzaeian. The raiding duo will benefit from being under their national head coach and the likes of compatriot Heidarali Ekrami.
Mix of youth and experience. Retention of their proven core of Surinder Singh (captain), young allrounder Jai Bhagwan, Ekrami and Rinku Sharma (remember his superhuman solo super tackles) is a strength for this side. Girish Maruti Ernak adds a lethal defensive element to the mix and will hope to find more consistency this season.
Sides with such a mix of age groups and skill sets are heavily dependent on momentum. U Mumba knows this firsthand with their campaigns picking up steam when top players click. In a season where combinations have all been shuffled, a relatively stable set up should get going early on and this is what coach Gholamreza will hope to do when the league gets underway.
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What is final bid match: The Final Bid Match rule allows teams that have released their players from the previous season to buy them back during the auction at the price of the final bid from a rival team
Big bucks: Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh (₹2.35 cr) is the most expensive foreign player in PKL history, overtaking compatriot Fazel Atrachali (₹1.6cr)
Honour roll: Patna Pirates (with three titles) is the most successful side in PKL history followed by Jaipur Pink Panthers (two titles). U Mumba, Bengal Warriors, Dabang Delhi and Bengaluru Bulls all have one title each.