The fifth season of the ProKabaddi League is about to get underway next month and after four spectacular editions, the latest one promises to be bigger and better. The new season will feature a record 12 teams, making the competition the biggest of its kind in the country.
Four new teams have been added for the upcoming season from Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The team from Haryana, owned by the JSW Group, have been christened as the Steelers and on Wednesday, the name of the Gujarat team was also revealed by Gautam Adani, the head of the Adani Group, on Twitter.
The team from Gujarat will be known as the FortuneGiants and will look to put their best foot forward in the coming season. Following this announcement, only the names of the Uttar Pradesh team, owned by the GMR Group, and Tamil Nadu team, co-owned by Sachin Tendulkar and N. Prasad, are yet to be revealed.
Related: Gujarat team players for Pro Kabaddi 2017, Season 5
The Gujarat team performed well at the player auction last month and have built a highly competitive squad. Their defense will be managed by two Iranian pillars – in the form of Fazel Atrachali, who is a two-time Pro Kabaddi League winner, one-time runner-up and the best defender from the previous edition and Abozar Mohajermighani, who was bought at the auction for a whopping Rs 50 lakhs.
They have another strong foreign player in their ranks in the form of Seongryeol Kim, who was part of the South Korea team that won the bronze medal at the World Cup in 2016 and has prior PKL experience to his name.
Leading the side in the raiding department will be former Telugu Titan Sukesh Hegde, who is a raider with proven pedigree and over the last four seasons, he formed a great partnership with Rahul Chaudhari at the Hyderabad side.
The second raider will be Mahendra Ganesh Rajput, who was bought for a sum of Rs 25 lakhs and has tons of Pro Kabaddi experience in the bag. He is an effective weapon with his tall frame and his standing hand touches are a threat to every opposition defender. They also will rely on raider Sachin, whose services were purchased for a hefty Rs 36 lakh sum at the auction.
Also read: Pro Kabaddi 2017, Season 5: Calm to aggressive, the predicted team captains for the new season
