The Vivo Pro Kabaddi League PKL 2022 Season 9 is all set to begin on October 7, with the first leg set to be held at Bengaluru, know the full captain list
In the last season, all the matches were played in Bengaluru without spectators. This time however, the organizers have set up four venues all set to host hardcore Kabaddi fans as they make their presence felt.
Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 9 2022 Teams Captain List And All Team New Captain
The captains assembled for the pre season press conference Along with Shri Anupam Goswami (League Commissioner, Vivo PKL)
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Captains of all participating teams in PKL Season 9 pic.twitter.com/6ezlhNkqqu
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After finalizing their squads all the franchises have started announcing their team captains.
PKL Franchise Captains For The New 2022 Season
Given below is a list of all the captains of each franchise going into the new Pro Kabaddi League 2022 Season 9:
1. Joginder Narwal (Haryana Steelers)
Joginder Narwal is a veteran having played for multiple teams in the PKL. Last season, he captained the Dabang Delhi KC who went on to lift the title.
The 36-year-old mainly operates from the Left Corner position and had a dismal season in season 8. He paired up with Ravinder Pahal in the right corner and has had good success in the past.
In PKL season 9, Joginder will play in a similar role as he did for the Delhi franchise to nurture young talents like Meetu. Joginder Narwal has been a good mentor for the likes of Naveen Kumar and Vijay Malik.
Haryana Steelers currently do not have any star raiders on their side and it will be the duty of Joginder along with Manpreet to back the players.
2. Maninder Singh (Bengal Warriors)
Following a successful first season, Maninder had to bow out of the PKL due to injuries. However, he made a strong return and the Bengal Warriors quickly latched on to Maninder a few seasons back.
Ever since then, there has been no looking back and Maninder has been Bengal’s go-to raider in all situations. Maninder has the ability to raid regardless of the number of defenders.
He makes good use of his upper body strength and evades defenders with ease. This season, Maninder should score more than 250 raid points for Bengal like other times to reach the playoffs.
3. Mahender Singh (Bengaluru Bulls)
Mahender is one of the most experienced defenders for Bengaluru Bulls and has played with the team for more than four years.
Randhir Singh Sehrawat appointed Mahender ahead of Vikash Kandola. This is probably due to the experience Mahender possesses and also not to put much pressure on Kandola in his first season at Bengaluru.
Mahender has to level up his game for PKL 9 and shouldn’t commit himself to unsuccessful tackles like before.
4. Chandran Ranjith (Gujarat Titans)
Ram Mehar Singh has appointed Chandran Ranjith as the captain for the Gujarat Titans in PKL Season 9. Ranjith has played for many franchises in the past but only as a secondary raider.
This season, he will be the primary raider for Gujarat Titans and will look to make use of this opportunity. Chandran Ranjith has led Tamil Nadu in the past to the quarter-finals of the National Kabaddi Championships but the pressure of playing PKL is completely different.
5. Fazel Atrachalli (Puneri Paltan)
Fazel Atrachali is the most experienced player in PKL and this season he will be playing for Puneri Paltan. Atrachal is already experienced with captaining a team as he has done it before with his National team Iran and U Mumba in PKL 8.
Fazel gives valuable advice to the players and grooms them well on the mat making his presence felt. Last season was a good example of this with Ajith Kumar who turned out to be the most successful raider for U Mumba along with Abhishek Singh.
Fazel is commonly known for getting the best out of the players. In PKL season 9, he will probably have a similar role of nurturing youngsters like Aslam Inamdar and Pankaj Mohite.
6. Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (Tamil Talaivas)
Pawan Sehrawat has previously led the Bengaluru Bulls to the title in PKL 7 topping the raiders list. He had the support of Rohit Kumar who was not in his best form in the latter stages of that season.
Pawan single-handedly won Bengaluru the title. The might be the same case with Tamil Talaias this time as the franchise spent more than half of their purse on Pawan.
Talaivas bought Pawan for 2.26 crores, the highest ever bid in PKL history. The star raider will have good support from do-or-die specialist Ajinkya Pawar.
7. Ravinder Pahal (Telugu Titans)
Ravindar Pahal, nicknamed “The hawk” will donne the Telugu Titans jersey in PKL season 9 after representing Dabangg Delhi and Bengaluru Bulls in the past season.
Alongside Surjeet Singh, Ravinder Pahal feature as one of the most experienced defenders both for the Titans and in the PKL.
Ravinder Pahal has made a lot of advance and unsuccessful tackles in the past. This season he must try to reduce it after being given the added responsibility. He will have Surjeet Singh, and Parvesh Bainswal to support him.
8. Nitesh Kumar (UP Yodhhas)
Nitesh Kumar will continue to captain the UP Yodhhas team for the PKL season 9. PKL 7 was one of the best seasons for him and the Yodhhas, where Sumit and Nitesh formed a deadly combo and decimated all the raiders.
However, the duo could not repeat the same for last season as they both could not perform at their best.
Nitesh should look to perform better and go to the playoffs having good raiders in Gill, Pawan and Nitin Tomar. Nitesh should utilise the trio in a sensible way.
9. Neeraj Kumar (Patna Pirates)
Neeraj is one of the retained players for the Patna Pirates for PKL Season 9. The Patna franchise finished as runners-up in the last season and they will look to go one step further to take the title this time.
Besides Neeraj, Patna have also retained Sachin Kumar and other primary defenders like Chiyaneh and Abinesh Nadarajan. This season Patna Pirates have changed their coach after a long relationship with Ram Mehar Singh.
This season, Neeraj Kumar will shoulder the responsibilities and also take hold of the team.
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