It is been a while we saw a strong Gujarat Fortune Giants team defence in action. The Pro Kabaddi League 2020 was pushed to an indefinite date because of COVID19 in 2021
There are some good news according to some reports. The new season is slated to begin in the 2nd half of 2021. The auction for the new season is also reported to be staged soon.
This article looks at Gujrat’s performances in the past seasons and also tries to analyse their auction strategy for PKL 2021.
Gujrat Fortune Giants’ Performance in Season 5 and 6
Gujrat announced themselves on the PKL stage with a bang in season 5. They were in Zone A which had some strong teams like U Mumba. But they topped their zone to enter the play offs. They played the finals against Patna Pirates, whom they had beaten in their Intra Zone match in the league stage.
But they lost the final to them, giving Patna their 3rd consecutive title. For Gujrat’s coach, Manpreet Singh, life came a full circle because it was under his captaincy that Patna had won their first PKL title.
Manpreet had made Gujrat a strong force to reckon with. Sachin was the star raider for them in that season. He was a unknown face but they did well to score 159 raid points. Parvesh did well for them in defence. The team carried the same confidence into the next season. Parvesh did extremely well and was the second best defender in the season.
He was ably supported by Sunil Kumar who was the 4th best defender in the season. Sachin did better than season five and scored 190 raid points and was amongst the top 10 raiders for the season. With such strong performances from their star players Gujarat played the final yet again, against Bengaluru Bulls but they came second twice in two years.
Gujrat’s Performance in Season 7
Gujrat’s fans had a lot of expectations from their team in season 7 after their strong performances in season 5 and 6, but their team could not stand upto the expectations.
Fortune Giants had an unforgettable season as their star defenders and raiders searched for form throughout the season. Sachin could only score 84 raid points in the 16 matches he featured. Parvesh too had a bad season as he could only manage 55 tackle points.
The only player who ensured Gujrat had the slight chance of qualifying into the play offs was Rohit Gulia. He managed to get more raid points then their star raider Sachin. Gujrat eventually missed the playoffs and were ousted from the league stage.
What Might be Gujarat Fortune Giants Players, Team And Auction Approach For Pro Kabaddi League Season 8?
Gujrat has some tough decisions to make before the auctions. It would be difficult for them to zero in on the player they want to retain. They would have liked to retain either of Sachin or Parvesh, but their performance in the last season might prompt them to release both these players. Sachin’s performance in domestic games has not been great off late as well, so he might not even be in the scheme of FBM for the Giants.
Giants might retain Gulia who did well. His all round abilities gives the side a good balance. Even if Gujrat has to shed 70-100 Lacs for Gulia they wouldn’t mind as they would like to retain someone who has the experience.
Giants might think to use FBM for Parvesh, as he is too good a defender to have two back to back bad seasons. Sonu, who did well with 78 raid points might also be brought back using the FBM. It would be exciting to see how Manpreet Singh builds his team for the next season. He is a known master strategist, he might already have a couple of tricks up his sleeve for the new season.