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A little more than a month remains for the seventh season of one of the most popular sporting leagues in the country, the Pro Kabaddi League, which is set to feature twelve teams in their quest for the ultimate title.
The league returns to its familiar July-October window as it makes its beginning on the 20th of July. Anupam Goswami, the League Commissioner of VIVO Pro Kabaddi has intimated certain changes in the timing and scheduling of the games this season. Each city-leg this season will begin on a Saturday and all matches will begin at 7:30 pm, instead of the existing 8 pm commencement.
After making its debut in 2014, PKL has become bigger and better with every passing season. The exceptional performance of players and teams has led to the achieving of several milestones and records over the seasons, and hence we can expect season seven to be the same in this regard.
Here are five milestones that could be achieved in the upcoming seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League.
#5 25 High 5's
The retention of Manjeet Chhillar by the Tamil Thalaivas showed clear intent from the Thalaivas' management that the kabaddi veteran is still a vital element in their plans for the title. The bolstering of the squad with the addition of Rahul Chaudhari and Mohit Chhillar has made the Thalaivas one of the most feared teams in the upcoming season.
Along with getting his team past the line and winning his maiden title, Manjeet would also look towards creating a PKL milestone with his strong defending skills. He has 21 High-5s and if he can keep injury at bay, then he is all set to break through the 25 High-5 milestone in Season seven.
#4 50 Super 10s
After 350+ raid points in season five, Pardeep Narwal could manage just 233 in Season six. While 233 raid points in a season might be superlative for some raiders, for Pardeep Narwal, it was a dip in form.
The lack of a good support raider in season six curtailed the freedom with which Pardeep likes to operate with. The pressure of being the sole dependable raider in the side along with the responsibility of being the captain got to the young lad who fell short of his best.
However, even an average Pardeep Narwal is dangerous news for the opponents, as he had shown in the previous season where he managed to score the second-highest raiding points along with an astounding 15 Super-10s which took his total to 44 Super-10s across the seasons.
He is just six shy from becoming the first player in PKL history to score 50 Super-10s, and if everything goes well then we could witness him going past the mark within the first half of the upcoming season.
#3 25 Super Tackles
Puneri Paltan's campaign last season would be remembered for their astounding performance in super tackles, and most of the credit goes to some superlative display of strength and intelligence by Sandeep Narwal and Ravi Kumar, who combined together well to keep Puneri Paltan in the hunt for the playoffs.
Given the sobriquet, the 'Beast from the East', Sandeep Narwal has now made the West his home. His tremendous show in the defense for the Puneri Paltan last season with 41 tackle points including 7 super tackles and a High-5, led to a fierce bidding war in the PKL auction, and his services were finally procured by U Mumba at a staggering price of ₹89 lakhs.
Sandeep now has 23 Super Tackles to his name, and a couple more could make him the first player in PKL to achieve the 25 Super Tackle-mark. However, he has to be on his best as close on his heels are two veterans - Jeeva Kumar and Dharmaraj Cheralathan, with 21 super tackles each, who could very well give Narwal a run for his money.
#2 First foreign player to reach 250 tackle points
While the 250-tackle point margin has already been passed by three Indian defenders - Manjeet Chhillar, Ravinder Pahal, and Sandeep Narwal, the possibility of a foreign player achieving this feat is of utmost importance for the standards and future of the Pro Kabaddi League, and of Indian Kabaddi in general.
In the face of the 2018 Asian Games debacle, it's key for the PKL to rope in the best-of-the-best foreign talents and give the Indian youngsters the experience and the exposure to prepare them well for the next major international event.
This milestone is important for another major reason, that is because of the player who is set to achieve it. Fazel Atrachali, the U Mumba captain, is at 235 tackle points prior to the start of the season and is all set to make it to the 250 point-mark in the upcoming season.
His contribution to the PKL, both as a defender and as a leader, has been immeasurable and his mentoring of young defenders like Surender Singh has already begun to show results.
#1 1000 Raid points and 1000 Total points
Both Pardeep Narwal (858 raid points) and Rahul Chaudhari (825 raid points) are set to achieve these milestones in the upcoming season, but it would be interesting to see who gets there first and, in the process, etches their name in the Pro Kabaddi League history books.
Pardeep, on his way to becoming the raiding supergiant he is today, has broken many of Rahul Chaudhari's records and is now atop the most raid points list. While Rahul (876 total points) still manages to maintain his place at the top of the total points list, but with a lead of a mere 11 points, his position is in utmost danger from Pardeep's (865 total points) ascendancy.
It would be interesting for fans of Kabaddi to see Rahul Chaudhari perform outside the Telugu Titans set up for the first time in his PKL career. With a superb and encouraging influence in the form of Ajay Thakur by his side, this could be the back-to-form year for the lad from Uttar Pradesh.
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