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The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) has helped in changing the lives of many individuals. Before the league’s inception, hardly anyone knew about the Kabaddi stars of our country. But now thanks to this league, not only the Indian kabaddi players but also the overseas players have become household names in the country.
Mashal Sports, in collaboration with Star Sports India, initiated PKL as an IPL-style Kabaddi tournament, wherein eight city-based franchises battled in a two-month long tournament. Patna (Patna Pirates), Hyderabad (Telugu Titans), Mumbai (U Mumba), Pune (Puneri Paltan), Delhi (Dabang Delhi), Kolkata (Bengal Warriors), Bengaluru (Bengaluru Bulls), and Jaipur (Jaipur Pink Panthers) were the first eight cities to have their own PKL teams.
However, due to the league’s success, it expanded to a 12-team tournament after introducing teams from Ahmedabad (Gujarat Fortune Giants), Chennai (Tamil Thalaivas), Sonipat (Haryana Steelers) and Lucknow (UP Yoddha).
The diehard fans now give the kabaddi players the same treatment as celebrities, which has also helped them in gaining loads of Instagram followers.
Here is a list of the top 5 most followed Kabaddi players on Instagram:
#5 Deepak Nivas Hooda (107k followers)
Deepak Niwas Hooda started his PKL career as an all-rounder playing for the Telugu Titans. His performances made him a player to reckon with. Hooda has generated a huge fan following with his Kabaddi skills. He was the second costliest player in the inaugural PKL auction with a contract worth 12.6 lakhs.
He moved to Puneri Paltan after playing for the Titans for 2 seasons. He led the team from Pune to a third place finish in the 3rd season with brilliant performances. The all-rounder was also a part of the Indian team which lifted the World Cup in 2016.
The Haryanvi all-rounder’s Instagram account has over 1,00,000 followers which shows his ever-growing popularity. He is currently a part of the Jaipur Pink Panthers side in PKL season 6.
#4 Ajay Thakur (120k followers)
Ajay Thakur is the captain of the Indian national kabaddi team and also leads the Tamil Thalaivas, his PKL team. Thakur started his career playing for the Bengaluru Bulls before switching to Puneri Paltan in Season 3. After playing for 2 seasons there, he moved on to the Chennai-based franchise in Season 5.
The tall raider is famous for running hand touches and is also one of the top raiders of the country. He has 120,000 Instagram followers and is the 4th most followed kabaddi player on the social networking site.
#3 Anup Kumar (122k followers)
The former captain of Indian team and also the former captain of one of the most successful franchises in the league, U Mumba, Anup Kumar has 1,22,000 followers on Instagram.
Anup developed an image of "Captain Cool" while leading the U Mumba team for 5 consecutive seasons. He led his team to the tournament finale 3 times and was also successful in lifting the trophy once.
Shockingly, he wasn't retained by the franchise for Season 6 as he switched to Abhishek Bachchan's Jaipur Pink Panthers for the first time
#2 Pardeep Narwal
Pardeep Narwal has been the find of the PKL. Having played as a substitute for the Bengaluru Bulls in the first two seasons, Narwal’s life changed when he moved to Patna Pirates in Season 3. Pardeep has been unstoppable ever since he played for the Bihar-based franchise.
He is one of the best raiders on the planet, if not the best, and always keeps on bettering his records. The highlight of his PKL career was his 8-pointer raid against the Haryana Steelers in a play-off match of Season 5. Pardeep has led the Pirates to glory for 3 consecutive seasons, a dominance that is truly unmatched.
The explosive raider is the second most followed Kabaddi player on Instagram with 1,24,000 followers.
#1 Rahul Chaudhari (146k followers)
Rahul Chaudhari’s epic performances in the first 2 seasons handed him the tag of “poster boy of Kabaddi”. His ability to raid from both the sides and change the game at any given time makes him one of the most dangerous players of the league.
Chaudhari was not retained by his franchise Telugu Titans ahead of the Season 6 auctions, which raised many eyeballs as he was the cornerstone of the team. However, the Hyderabad-based franchise bought the most successful raider of the league back using their Right-to-Match as he continues to be the only player in the league who has played for the same team in 6 seasons.
The raider has a huge fan following on Instagram where he stands #1 in the list of most followed Kabaddi players with 1,46,000 followers.
