Pro Kabaddi League has provided a fantastic platform for young and experienced kabaddi players to exhibit their talent on the bigger stage. Kabaddi never had money, fame, and glamor to it, but PKL provided everything which helped the kabaddi players to have financial stability. In return, players have been delivering some outstanding performances over the seasons. PKL is all about breathtaking raids, mighty tackles, and last-second thrills. The credit for such magnificent performances goes to the players. In this article, we will see the players to look for in each team of the PKL season 9.
Top Players To Look For in Pkl Season 9 | Pro Kabaddi League 2022
| Teams | Players to look for |
| Dabang Delhi |
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| Bengal Warriors | |
| Bengaluru Bulls |
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| Gujarat Giants |
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| Haryana Steelers |
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| Jaipur Pink Panthers |
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| Patna Pirates |
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| Puneri Paltan |
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| Tamil Thalaivas | |
| Telugu Titans |
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| U Mumba |
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| UP Yoddha |
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Top Players to Look for in Dabang Delhi
Naveen Kumar and Vijay Malik are the two marquee players to look for on the side of defending champions Dabang Delhi. Naveen has 690 points in the last 62 games i.e. previous two seasons. Vijay Malik has some fantastic numbers. In 85 games, this player has bagged 361 points, out of which 292 are raid points. Sandeep Dhul has a crucial role in making Delhi’s defense strong.
Players to look for in Bengal Warriors | PKL
Maninder Singh and Deepak Niwas Hooda are the players to look for in the Bengal squad. Both are big names in the world of kabaddi and it is interesting to watch them together, considering they have slightly different ways of approaching the game.
Maninder has some stupefying numbers. In 101 matches, he had 993 raid points, which makes it 9.77 raid points per match on average. Bengal Warriors team management will be hoping that he would repeat the numbers this season as well.
Deepak Niwas Hooda is regarded as one of the best all-rounders PKL has ever seen and he is one of the top players to look for in PKL season 9. The man has been playing PKL since its inception. So he definitely knows the nitty-gritty of PKL.
Top PKL Players to look for in Bengaluru Bulls
Pawan Sehrawat has left Bengaluru Bulls to join Tamil Thalaivas in season 9. The transfer made Pawan the most expensive player of the PKL season. Well, the void created by the exit of such a player is surely not easy to fill. However, Bengaluru management is looking to Vikash Khandola to produce numbers close to the numbers produced by Pawan.
In season 8, Vikash has played 22 matches and has scored 180 overall points with a not-out percentage of 76.4. Vikash is a good choice for Bengaluru Bulls.
Players to look for in Gujarat Giants
Gujarat Giants do have a sturdy defense made by Baldev Singh, Rinku Narwal, and Sandeep Kandola. Baldev Singh and Rinku Narwal have good successful tackles per game. However, Sandeep Kandola is in a different league altogether with mind-boggling successful tackles per game. As the cliché goes “attackers will win a match for you, but defenders will win a series for you”. Really All be riding on these defenders of Gujarat Giants.
Top PKL Players to look for in Haryana Steelers
Jaideep is the player to watch out for from the squad of Haryana Steelers. Yes, Jaideep is pretty new to Pro Kabaddi League, but his newness has helped him to sabotage the opponent’s raider’s raid.
Manpreet Singh is the coach of the Haryana Steelers and is famous for his defensive lineups. This coach-player duo can really eat the raiders of the opponents.
Top Players to look for in Jaipur Pink Panthers
Jaipur Pink Panthers’ strength lies in their attacking trio. The trio is Arjun Deshwal, V Ajith, and Rahul Chaudhari. The Jaipur team management has to come up with some consistent performances from the defensive unit to support these prolific raiders.
Arjun Deshwal scored 268 raid points in the last season which makes him 2nd best raider of the last season. V Ajith has a not-out percentage of 76.63 with a total of 159 raid points.
Then comes the legend of PKL Rahul Chaudhari. Rahul has some terrific stats. He can attack and defend with the same force. It’s not about stats, it’s about the name Rahul Chaudhari which daunts the opponents.
Top Players to look for in Patna Pirates
Patna Pirates are the record champions of PKL, interestingly they won their titles on consecutive occasions. Since then every kabaddi fan expects Patna to do well in the Pro Kabaddi League. The player to look for in the Patna squad is Mohammadreza Chiyaneh. This Iranian raider is just 30 matches old (approx) in PKL history but has already started to make his mark in this fabulous league. Mohammadreza is a defender who has a total of 102 successful tackles out of 187 tackles. On average, this Iranian makes 3.5 successful tackles per match.
Top Players to look for in Puneri Paltan
Puneri Paltan has one of the most balanced squads in this PKL season and many have claimed that the Pune team could do wonders this season. Talking about individuals, Pune this time has some fantastic individual talents. Fazel Atrachali is considered one of the best-left corners. In season 8, in 22 matches, he earned total points 51 with not out % of 100.
Aslam Inamdar is quite new to the PKL setup and he is yet to settle down. Aslam would be accompanied by Mohit Goyat who also has some fantastic numbers, a total of 214 raid points in 29 games.
Players to look for in Tamil Thalaivas
Well, you don’t have to look to any other player, if you have Pawan Kumar Sehrawat in your squad. The man became the most expensive player in the history of PKL when Tamil Thalaivas brought him from Bengaluru Bulls. Pawan is one of the top players to look for in PKL season 9.
In a total of 24 games in last season, the raider has scored 320 raid points with not out % of 72.8. Tamil Thalaivas have never been known for their team game and have always had some poor performances in the previous seasons. Well, with the pressure of the price tag, plus the responsibility of the team, it will be interesting to see how Pawan responds to such a tremendous amount of pressure.
Players to look for in Telugu Titans
Telugu Titans, this time have to build a balanced squad with good raiders and equally good defenders. For the defensive duties, a lot will be riding on Vishal Bhardwaj. In last season, the man earned 47 total points in 20 Matches.
While the raiding duties will be led by Siddharth Desai. Siddharth has been a famous name in PKL history. Last season, he earned 35 total points in only 3 matches.
Considering the history of Titans as a team, it is the responsibility of these two to not only lead their respective departments but also form a great understanding between the departments.
Players to look for in U Mumba
U Mumba, this time have a fairly young and less experienced squad, if you compare it with the previous squads. Also, Mumbai is lacking big names in the squad. So, obviously, the expectations from U Mumba this season are on the lower side.
Well, a comparatively well-known and comparatively well-established player in the squad of U Mumba is Rinku who is a right corner. The man scored 60 tackle points last season and will be looking to build on that. It will be interesting to see how Mumbai management deals with this problem.
Top Players to look for in UP Yoddha
When a discussion comes to UP Yoddha, the only word that comes to mind is consistency. They have produced some consistent results in every season, unfortunately, they do miss the last punch to win the title.
Anyway, this time as well, Yoddhas have some fantastic individuals. The most notable presence is of Pardeep Narwal and he is one of the top players to look for in PKL season 9. Well, he is a kabaddi legend, not only for PKL or the Indian National Team but for the entire kabaddi world. Well, it’s not about stats anymore when it comes to Pardeep, it is about its presence that will make the opponent shiver.
The team management has other good players like Surender Gill to accompany Pardeep Narwal in the attacking duties.
UP does have one of the best defensive lineups in this PKL season which is formed by Nitesh Kumar, Sumit, Nitin Tomar, and Abozar Mighani.
