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Pro Kabaddi League Season 6 is about to kickstart in a few days' time as the first match of the season takes place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Chennai leg will be followed by eleven more legs in various cities around the country and the playoffs in Kochi and Mumbai. The grand finale of the Pro Kabaddi League 2018 will be held at the NSCI Dome in Mumbai, where the champions will be crowned.
Tamil Thalaivas made their debut last season in the Pro Kabaddi League but had a tough time to get up and running as they took their time adjusting to the hecticness and intensity of the league. Ajay Thakur led the side well with his performances and leadership on the mat and took charge of a young squad that made life tough for some teams in the second half of the season. They took a lot of sides deep into the mat but lost the matches owing to nerves and thus ended up at the bottom of their zonal standings.
Here are a few reasons why the Tamil Thalaivas will find it difficult yet again to challenge for the Pro Kabaddi League Season 6 title.
#5 Inexperienced defensive lineup
The Tamil Thalaivas side retained a major core of their defensive lineup when they retained Amit Hooda and C. Arun ahead of the Pro Kabaddi League 2018 Auction held earlier this year. Though Amit Hooda was impressive with his corner exploits and scored 61 points for the Thalaivas last year, the support staff for him in the defence was not up to the mark as much as he would have liked.
The defence looks a lot like the last season's lineup and could prove to be an issue this year for the Thalaivas as they prepare for their title challenge.
#4 Lack of in-form raiders to support Ajay Thakur
Tamil Thalaivas had two major raiders in their squad last in the form of K Prapanjan who played a perfect partner on the mat to score a lot of points. Despite them not finishing in a favourable position at the end of the season, the two raiders proved to be tough to handle by a lot of teams as the Thalaivas put up strong challenges against the top teams in the league.
They have signed seasoned campaigners like Sukesh Hegde and Jasvir Singh in their squad this season. However, the two of them had an underwhelming season last time around and thus, the raiding unit seems to be a tad weak as compared to some of the other sides who have young, talented raiders on their roster.
#3 The loss of K Prapanjan in the auction
K Prapanjan had a breakout season last year with the Tamil Thalaivas after being around in the league since the second season with stints at U Mumba and Telugu Titans. He scored a total of 123 raid points in the 22 matches of the group stages last season.
He proved his clinical nature on the mat as he was rampant during Do or Die raid situations scoring the most points for the Tamil Thalaivas. He was signed by the Gujarat Fortunegiants at this year's auction for a hefty price but his absence will be sorely felt by the Thalaivas squad. The raiding unit of the Tamil Thalaivas will have to step up in a major fashion to make up for the loss of the free scoring Prapanjan this year.
#2 Lack of depth in the squad
Tamil Thalaivas may be able to field a starting seven squad with experienced players like Manjeet Chillar, Jasvir Singh, Ajay Thakur and others, however, their bench somewhat lacks the depth to pose a challenge for the team to be challenging other sides in the league for the title win.
A lot of young signings like Athul MS, Abhinandan Chandel, K Jayasselan, Rajnish etc. will be up for a tough challenge lacking Pro Kabaddi League experience which could prove to be a problem for the Thalaivas in the long run.
#1 Pressure on Ajay Thakur
Ajay Thakur has been one of the most promising raiders in the Pro Kabaddi League over the years excelling on the mat for whichever team he has turned out for.
After successful stints with Bengaluru Bulls and Puneri Paltan, he was signed by Tamil Thalaivas last year and led a young side. He delivered for the team and scored 222 points leading from the front. However, he did not receive much support from his teammates as they ended up finishing last in their zonal standings.
Ajay Thakur will be the captain for Thalaivas again and will be expected to perform as the best raider this year but too much pressure on his shoulders could hurt the team's title chances this year as well.
