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The attention of the entire kabaddi universe is on the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League as the league begins its seventh edition tonight. The tournament had only 8 teams in the initial 4 seasons but, the success of the league forced the organizers to introduce new franchises and expand the tournament on the whole.
4 new teams - Gujarat Fortune Giants, Haryana Steelers, Tamil Thalaivas and U.P. Yoddha - have been introduced in PKL season 5. The teams played in a zonal format after the expansion. However, the league has switched back to its original round-robin format this year.
The kabaddi teams splashed out a lot of money in the pre-season auction to build a strong squad. Though every team wants an unbeatable unit, it is practically not possible to have all the stars in one team of a franchise-based league.
Like every season, some teams look strong while some look rather weak but, in the sport of kabaddi, anyone can spring a surprise on his day. With the tournament commencing tonight, let us have a look at the weakness of each side in PKL 7.
Bengal Warriors - Supporting raiders
Bengal Warriors could not qualify for the playoffs of PKL 6 hence, they reshuffled their team and brought in some new faces. The coaches have strengthened the defence by buying Jeeva Kumar, Rinku Narwal, Viraj Vishnu Langde and all-rounder Mohammad Nabhibaksh. However, the Kolkata-based franchise does not have a solid raiding attack.
K. Prapanjan and skipper Maninder Singh will have to shoulder the responsibility of the raid attack as Sukesh Hegde is not the raider he once was, while the other raiders are not so experienced.
Bengaluru Bulls - Defense
Bengaluru Bulls have one of the best raiding attacks of the tournament with the big names like Pawan Sehrawat and Rohit Kumar present. They also have Vinod Kumar and all-rounder Ashish Kumar who can chip in with crucial points.
But, the team's defence may struggle in season 7 because barring Mahender Singh no one has a good amount of experience. Raju Lal Choudhary has played a few games, still, he is not someone who will inflict fears in the minds of the raiders.
Dabang Delhi K.C. - Lack of replacements in the raiding department
Another team which has a solid defence but a weak raiding attack, Dabang Delhi have Chandran Ranjit, Naveen Kumar and Meraj Sheykh as their key raiders. While all the three players have good raiding skills, Delhi do not have any replacement in the squad.
In case any of the three raiders wants a rest, is out of form or suffers an injury, the team's inexperienced raiders will get exposed.
Gujarat Fortune Giants - Left Corner Defender
The versatile squad of Gujarat Fortune Giants lacks a player who handle the left corner position well. The coach, Manpreet Singh, has covered almost all the bases of the team but he does not have a proper left corner defender.
Lesser known names Sonu Gahlawat and Sumit Malik are the only options for the Ahmedabad-based franchise which once had Fazel Atrachali and Abozer Mighani in its corners.
Haryana Steelers - Quality all-rounders
Sonipat-based Haryana Steelers have preferred to include experienced names in their team this year. They have build a decent squad for the upcoming tournament but the team lacks a quality all-rounder.
An all-Rounder balances the team combination however, the Steelers only have South Korean all-rounder Tin Phonchoo in their team. This deficiency may hurt Dharmaraj Cheralathan's side.
Jaipur Pink Panthers - Cover defenders
Season one champions Jaipur Pink Panthers have a star-studded raiding attack thanks to the presence of Deepak Niwas Hooda, Deepak Narwal, Nilesh Salunkhe and Nitin Rawal. The team also has good corner defenders in Amit Hooda and Sandeep Dhull.
However, they will be forced to include inexperienced cover defenders in the playing seven. Pavan T.R. and Elavarasan A. are the prime contenders to occupy the cover positions of the pink franchise.
Patna Pirates - Depleted Defense
It goes without saying that 3-time champions Patna Pirates have one of the best raiding attacks of PKL 2019. With Pardeep Narwal, Jang Kun Lee and Mohammad Esmaeil ready to raid for Patna, the franchise is a strong contender for the title this year.
However, they suffered a huge blow ahead of the tournament as their key defender, Surender Nada was ruled out because of an injury. The team only has Jaideep and Hadi Oshtorak as prominent names in their defensive unit. The young defenders will have to play well to keep Patna in the race for the title.
Puneri Paltan - Left cover and Right corner
Puneri Paltan snapped up some of the mightiest kabaddi players in the auction. They bought Nitin Tomar back besides buying PO Surjeet Singh in the auction. They have a talented all-rounder in Sagar Krishna but, the team does not have a good left cover and a right corner.
Iranian defender Hadi Tajik is the team's first choice right corner while debutant Sanket Sawant is expected to take the left cover position. So, this might only prove to be the weak link of the Pune-based franchise.
Tamil Thalaivas - Form and fitness
Tamil Thalaivas have got the perfect mix of players for the seventh edition of VIVO Pro Kabaddi League. Right from Ajay Thakur, Rahul Chaudhari and Shabeer Bappu in the raiding department to the presence of Mohit Chhillar, Manjeet Chhillar and Ran Singh in the defense, this team has it all to take the title home.
However, these stalwarts need to maintain their fitness besides being in good form for Tamil Thalaivas. They do not have a good bench strength but, if the first choice seven play well then no one can stop the Chennai-based franchise in this tournament.
Telugu Titans - Supporting Raiders
Telugu Titans made the costliest purchase of the PKL 7 auction when they decided to splash out 1.45 Crores INR in lieu of Siddharth Sirish Desai. The Titans have a formidable defense this year but, Desai does not have much back-up in the raiding department.
As the Titans spent a huge amount of money on Siddharth, they could not spend more on the raiders. They have Suraj Desai, Rajnish, Amit Kumar and many more players but none of them have much of PKL experience.
U Mumba - Raiding attack
U Mumba have united the two stalwarts of kabaddi by purchasing Sandeep Narwal in this year's auction. They had retained Fazel Atrachali before the auction hence, they have a very solid defensive unit now. However, the same cannot be said of their raiding attack.
The season two winners have Rohit Baliyan, Dong Geon Lee and Athul MS in their squad. None of them has led a raiding attack in the past which arises the question that who will lead the U Mumba raiding department in PKL 2019.
U.P. Yoddha - Inexperienced defence
U.P. Yoddha played a masterstroke by assembling the quartet of Monu Goyat, Rishank Devadiga, Mohsen Maghsoudlou and Shrikant Jadhav in the raiding department. The smart budgeting strategy helped them form a great raiding attack but, their defence does not have the same strength.
Barring skipper Nitesh Kumar, none of the defenders of the Lucknow-based franchise have played in high-pressure situations. Hence, this problem may hurt U.P. Yoddha's chances of winning PKL 7.
