Tag: Pro Kabaddi League

Pro Kabaddi League 2019: Patna Pirates eye change in fortunes ahead of season 7

Source: hindustantimes.com

Three-time champions Patna Pirates will look to forget their woeful campaign last time and get back to winning ways in the seventh edition of the Pro Kabaddi League. Pirates finished a paltry fourth in Zone B last term and they made their intentions clear for the upcoming season by making host lot of changes to the squad.

Dubki King Pardeep Narwal, all-rounder Vikas Jaglan and defender Jawahar Dagar were the three players retained by the franchise as they have put the faith in new faces in the squad.

The attack will be led by Pardeep once again and his performances will determine where the team will finish come the business end of the season. Pardeep is still the only raider to score 300 raid points in a single season which he achieved in PKL 5 when he scored 369 raid points.

To make up for the lack of a solid second raider last season, Patna have acquired the services of Jang Kun Lee. Overall, Lee has scored 411 raid points in the tournament and is the leading raid point scorer among foreigners. The team has also bought Iranian raider Mohammad Esmaeil who had impressive performances in the 2018 Asian Games where Iran beat India in the semis.

Despite their strength in attack, Patna’s defence needs to improve big time. Surender Nada, Patna’s biggest buy, has once again been ruled out of the tournament. Jaideep, who has been bought through FBM (35 Lakhs), will again continue his role from PKL 5 and PKL 6. He has been the only Patna defender to score at least 50 tackle points in the last 2 seasons.

Patna also shelled out 35 lakhs to acquire left cover defender Neeraj Kumar in the auction. Neeraj has played just 17 games so far in PKL (for Haryana Steelers) and scored 13 tackle points. Hadi Oshtorak, who was part of Patna’s title winning sides in both season three and four returns to the side after being bought in the auction.

Squad: Pardeep Narwal (C), Ashish, Jang Kun Lee, Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsoudlou Mahalli, Mohit, Naveen, Purna Singh, Rajveersinh Pratap Rao Chavan, Mahendra Choudhary, Neeraj Kumar, Jaideep, Surender Nada, Bintu Narwal, Jawahar Dagar, Hadi Oshtorak, Ravinder, Sahil Mann, Vikas Jaglan

Coach: Ram Mehar Singh’s coaching began with the Air Force and Services team. He mentored them to three national Championships. He was also part of the national selection team for 5 years. Then in PKL 5 he was appointed as the coach of Patna Pirates, who went on to win their 3 rd title in a row. These achievements led him to be appointed as the coach for the Indian National team for 2018 Asian Games. He continued to be the coach of Patna Pirates in PKL 6 and this will be his third successive year at help.

Pro Kabaddi League 2019: Injury to key defender Surender Nada poses questions for Patna Pirates

Source: hindustantimes.com

When Patna Pirates bought the star defender Surender Nada for Rs 77 lakh at the auctions this year, it was considered to be a brilliant move. The franchise had won three titles on the trot till season 5, but in season 6, Pirates failed to make it to the play offs, eventually finishing in the fourth spot in Zone B table. The onus of the defeat lied with a faulty and inexperienced defence, which failed to compliment the brilliance of Pardeep Narwal, who, despite being injured, finished as the best raider of the season.

Nada, who is the second-most successful raider of the tournament and registered most tackle points in season (80 in 21 matches), seemed like the ideal fit to cover the left corner position. But unfortunately for Pirates, the Indian international has failed to recover from the injuries that ended his campaign early last year, posing a big question mark in front of Patna Pirates coaching staff.

We are looking into Surender Nada’s injury. There is still one doctor’s appointment left and we will make our decision on it later. The first medical we did, he turned out to be weak and unfit. So it will take time to heal. We will make our decision after the doctor’s report, hopefully he will be fit to play,” Patna coach Ram Mehar Singh told Hindustan Times in an exclusive chat.

Nada has not turned up for pre-tournament shoots and media exchanges, and is still recovering from his injuries back home, which makes it likely that Patna could name a replacement soon. But coach believes it will be better for the team balance to get an allrounder player instead of a specialist defender for Nada.

“If he fails to get fit, then we will look for a replacement. But we have a player for left corner position, Jaideep, so we will look for an allrounder player in place of the defender,” Singh said.