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The Pro Kabaddi caravan will commence later on this month on the 28th of July and go on for a good three months with the final encounter scheduled to take place on the 28th of October.
The addition of four new teams - UP Yoddhas, Tamil Thalaivas, Haryana Steelers and Fortune Giants Gujarat - means the season will be longer than the previous editions.
Thus, the fans of India's homegrown sport will witness more than 130 matches being played across 10 states with 12 teams taking the battle to each other.
One team in the fray are Bengaluru Bulls owned by the Kosmik Global Media group, who have had a fairly mixed history in terms of their results since the league's inception.
In the first edition, the Bulls led by Manjeet Chhillar made the cut to the semi-finals but failed to progress from there on and secured a fourth place finish.
Taking heart from their performance, they had their best finish in the second season where they made it to the finals only to succumb to U Mumba 30-36 in the penultimate encounter.
However, the last two editions have seen a downslide in the team's form, in the sense that they finished 7th and 6th in Season 3 and 4 respectively.
Nonetheless, now post the player auctions in the fifth edition, the revamped squad looks like one that is capable of challenging the might of the other teams. We look at five reasons why the Bengaluru Bulls can end up as the champions this time around!
#1 Rohit Kumar leading the charge
He may have entered the Pro Kabaddi scene late, but ever since he has arrived, he has made sure that his performance on the mat does the talking for him. In his debut season in the third edition, Rohit played for the Patna Pirates and finished as the Most Valuable Player besides winning the title with the team. In the next season, he switched to the Bulls, and despite the team finishing sixth on the points tally, Rohit emerged as the team’s top scorer in 12 of the 14 matches.
Thus, for the fifth edition, he was the ideal cut-out for the captain's role and will marshal his troops around effectively, leading by example. This was evident when he was quoted as saying to PTI that, "We come with a fresh mind set and a young self- motivated team with a well-devised strategy in place for this season." "We are training rigorously, placing a lot of importance on a healthy diet that helps optimise our performance and we look forward to performing well and seeing a remarkable result this season."
#2 Coach Randhir Singh
An Arjuna awardee himself, and a nominee for the Dronacharya award, the highest accolade presented to coaches in our country, Randhir Singh Shekhawat is someone who has nurtured talent in kabaddi and transformed them into international players.
Thus, under his guidance, the Bengaluru Bulls will surely go the extra mile in all aspects whether it is about training, tactics or the match days. For the young guns, there will never be a dearth of motivation under the esteemed coach who has the ability to extract the best possible performances from his players.
#3 Defensive power-house Ravinder Pahal
He may have been quiet in terms of his performance on the mat in the last couple of season, but Ravinder Pahal or Binda as he is referred to in the kabaddi circles, is arguably one of the best defenders in the league. In the 48 matches he has played so far in the tournament's history, Pahal has managed to amass 152 defence points at an average of 3.17 tackle per match.
He will make the corner position his very own and will pose as a resounding threat for the raiders from the opposition given his special move of the 'ankle hold.'
#4 Do-or-die raids secure with Ajay Kumar's presence
The young man used to ply his trade for the Jaipur Pink Panthers in the last edition where he had quite a successful season in the capacity of a third raider. The numbers stand as a testament to this fact, for Ajay boasts of a strike rate of 78.26% in do-or-die raids.
He managed to acquire 61 raid points in his 15 matches last year and will be hoping to increase that tally this time when he spearheads the attack alongside Rohit Kumar for Bengaluru Bulls.
#5 Retention of Ashish Kumar
This might just one of the surprise moves by the Bulls which may prove to be a valuable one. He was the only Category B player to be retained ahead of the player auctions in May which speaks volumes about the amount of faith that the Bulls' think tank has in the 33-year old all-rounder.
If he gets going, Ashish will prove to be the key to the team's success in Season 5 wherein he will look to improve upon his stats of 74 points from 32 matches in a big way.
