We have all been waiting for the second most popular league in India to come back on our screens for a while now. Yes, we are talking about the season 8 of the Pro Kabaddi League
The 7th edition of the league was played from 20th July 2019 till 19th October 2019. Bengal Warriors had defeated Dabang Delhi by a close margin to lift their first ever PKL title.
Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 Auction Strategy
The 8th season of the league was to start in 2020 but due to COVID19 it wasn’t played and since then there has been no official confirmation about when the league would resume. It’s been more than a year and a half, fans are eagerly waiting to see their star players back in action.
According to some reports in the media, the auction for season 8 is going to be held soon, and the organisers are looking at a window after July to start the new season.
This article looks at the performance of Dabang Delhi in the last season, and also picks the potential players who might be retained by the franchise before the big auctions.
Dabang Delhi PKL 8 Auction Stratergy
The last edition of the PKL was the best ever season for DD as they reached the finals for the first time. The main catalyst in their smooth run was a young raider, Naveen Kumar, who took the league by storm. DD played a total of 23 games last season and Naveen scored super 10s in 22 of those games, that’s a record in the history of the league. He ended the league with a total of 319 points and was second on the top raiders list.
He was supported by Chandran Ranjit in the raiding department. While Delhi’s raiding was at its absolute best, their defence never played true to its potential. The only player to feature in the top 10 highest defenders for last season was Ravinder Pahal. Joginder Narwal supported Pahal to an extent but Delhi struggled throughout the last season with finding the right combination for the cover position.
Dabang Delhi Potential Player Retentions
Delhi, in the upcoming auctions, would like to ensure that they pick the players who could fill the gap which was there in the last season and go one step further to win the trophy.
The first thing the franchise must do is retain Naveen Kumar and Ravinder Pahal before the auctions.
They also have the option to use FBM for players like Ranjit, Vishal Mane and Joginder Narwal. They might not pick Meraj Sheykh because he hasn’t played up to his potential in the last two seasons.
It’d be exciting to see what DD’s strategy would be, considering players would be coming after a very long break.
Also Read: PKL Most Expensive Player