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Mashal Sports, in collaboration with Star Sports India, initiated PKL as an IPL-style Kabaddi tournament in 2014, 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 franchises and players became immensely popular in the entire nation and this popularity can also be witnessed on social media. Here are the top 5 PKL teams with the most followers on Instagram -
#5 Puneri Paltan - 78.3k followers
Puneri Paltan made its Pro Kabaddi League debut in 2014 but could not achieve the success the fans would have wanted in the first two seasons.
They managed to win only four matches in the first two seasons. The owners changed the jersey colours and also signed the stars like Manjeet Chillar, Ajay Thakur and strengthened their team.
Puneri Paltan finished third in the league stage but failed to make it past the semi-finals. However, this was the best performance of Puneri Paltan in the three seasons of the league and the team never looked back then.
The team from Pune missed out on a playoff spot by a whisker in the fourth season but secured the second position in the Zone A points table the following year to qualify for the playoffs.
Pune has a strong fan following on the social media network, Instagram as they have more than 78,000 and the number has almost doubled since 2016.
#4 Jaipur Pink Panthers - 79.1k followers
The Rajasthan-based franchise, Jaipur Pink Panthers were the inaugural champions of the Pro Kabaddi League and Abhishek Bachchan is the team's owner.
Jaipur Pink Panthers stunned everyone with their clinical performance in the Pro Kabaddi League season 1 and won the trophy by defeating U Mumba in the final.
Jasvir Singh, who is nicknamed as the Smiling Assassin, was the face of the franchise for the first five seasons before he was released by the management this year.
The Pink Panthers squad currently consists of Anup Kumar, Deepak Nivas Hooda, Mohit Chillar and many other stars yet has failed to light up the tournament this year.
However, their fans haven't turned their back on the franchise and have continued to support them on social media which gave them the 4th position on the list of the most followed teams on Instagram.
#3 Bengaluru Bulls - 85.2k followers
Bengaluru Bulls possessed one of the strongest squads in the initial seasons of the PKL as they had names like Manjeet Chillar, Dharamraj Cheralathan, Ajay Thakur and also had Pardeep Narwal (though he was not as popular then).
They made it to the playoffs in the first season and finished as runners-up in the second one. However, since the team parted ways with their iconic players they have been on a downfall and have failed to make it to the second round in the past three seasons of the league.
Bulls are at the helm of the Zone B points table in season 6 currently and have been riding high on P Sehrawat's top form.
The team has amassed over 85,000 followers on Instagram and is the third most followed PKL team with 85.2k followers.
#2 U Mumba - 109.5k followers
The Mumbai-based franchise, U Mumba is the second most successful team in the history of the Pro Kabaddi League with one title victory and two runners-up finishes.
They made it to the first ever PKL final but came short against Navneet Gautam's Jaipur Pink Panthers.
However, the Mumbai side bettered their performance and lifted the PKL trophy in the second season. Anup Kumar had been the franchise's captain for the first five seasons but was unexpectedly released by the owners ahead of the sixth season.
But looking at the team's dominance in the ongoing tourney, it does not seem like they are missing their old skipper.
The fans of the U Mumba franchise have shown strong support on social media and the team's official Instagram is one of the only two teams to have more than 100,000 followers.
#1 Patna Pirates - 115.2k followers
Patna Pirates had Rakesh Kumar as the face of the franchise when they entered the Pro Kabaddi League in 2014 but soon Pardeep Narwal replaced the former Indian skipper as the poster boy.
Pardeep has led the team to a hattrick of titles in the past three seasons and is looking in terrific form this season as well. Pirates had won the third season with the efforts of Manpreet Singh, Pardeep Narwal and Rohit Kumar.
Also Read - Pro Kabaddi League 2018: Top 5 Kabaddi players with the most Instagram followers
In the fourth season, Pardeep and Fazel Atrachali inspired the team to title glory while it was the pair of Monu Goyat and Narwal which led the team to their third consecutive title.
This unbelievable success in the PKL has given the Patna Pirates franchise a number of fans which include over 115,000 followers on Instagram.
