Pro Kabaddi 2019: 3 players Telugu Titans may release before next season

Despite making the costliest purchase of the auction, Telugu Titans could not qualify for the playoffs of Pro Kabaddi 2019. While the team management's idea was to build the team around their star raider Siddharth Desai, the former U Mumba star was not in great form in the first few matches. However, when he began to score raid points, he could not find support from other players.

The same story transpired in the defence as Vishal Bhardwaj fought like a lone warrior. While the likes of Rajnish and Farhad Milaghardan played their roles well, Telugu Titans did not play well as a unit in Pro Kabaddi 2019.

As the seventh season is over now, the Hyderabad-based franchise will try to shift their focus on the upcoming season and make some changes to their squad. Here are the 3 players Telugu Titans may release ahead of PKL 2020:

---

#3 Suraj Desai

Is Suraj Desai a one-match wonder/

Matches - 12, Raid Points - 44, Average Raid Points/Match - 3.66

When Siddharth Desai was not playing up to the mark in the first phase of the tournament, his brother Suraj Desai emerged as the new match-winner for Telugu Titans. Despite being a part of the tournament since Season 2, Suraj made his PKL debut in the seventh season.

He lit up the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium with his fireworks against Dabang Delhi K.C. as he scored 18 points in his first Pro Kabaddi match. However, he could not repeat that performance any more as he ended the season with just 44 raid points.

In the succeeding 11 matches, Suraj could score only 27 points at an average of 2.45 raid points per match and most importantly, he could not provide the support to his brother. Thus, the team may end their association with Suraj.

#2 Abozar Mighani

The owners would have expected a much better show from Abozar Mighani

Matches - 18, Tackle Points - 39, Average Successful Tackles/Match - 2

The captain of the Telugu Titans, Abozar Mighani was expected to form a stellar partnership with Vishal Bhardwaj and decimate the opposition raiders. While Bhardwaj did his job well, the skipper could not do so. He featured in 18 matches for the Titans before being replaced as the skipper.

In those 18 games, Mighani scored 39 tackle points, which included a solitary High 5 only. Both the fans and the team officials would have expected a better performance from the Iranian defender who had scored over 50 tackle points in his last two seasons.

Though he pulled off three successful tackles in the tournament, the defender had below-par tackle strike rate of 44.82%. Since the Telugu Titans team management had dropped him from the playing seven of the final few matches, they had given a hint that they will release Mighani from the team.

Hence, the same can be expected to happen ahead of Pro Kabaddi 2020 as the Telugu Titans franchise will get a new captain and a new corner defender as well.

#1 C. Arun

C. Arun could not make good use of his experience

Matches - 22, Tackle Points - 25, Average Successful Tackles/Match - 1

Despite featuring in all the matches of Telugu Titans, the veteran cover defender C. Arun could not justify his spot in the team. Arun has been a part of the Pro Kabaddi League since Season 2. He has played for the Jaipur Pink Panthers, Bengal Warriors and Tamil Thalaivas in his long career but he still could not impress the fans while playing at the cover position for Telugu Titans.

Bought at the price of ₹10 lakhs at the auction, C. Arun could hardly trouble the raiders. His tackle strike rate of 34.24% shows how much he struggled in the defence of Telugu Titans.

The team management of Telugu Titans gave an ample amount of opportunities to Arun but the defender could not prove himself as a worthy cover defender. Also, it is interesting to note that Arun had scored 36 points in Season 5 alone but he could only aggregate 35 points in Season 6 and Season 7 combined.

Hence, Telugu Titans may look to release C. Arun from their squad and buy a good cover defender in the auction.