Puneri Paltan is a team which always shows a lot of potential but fails to impress in the Pro Kabaddi League, the side will be looking to bolster its team for the 2021 season
Season 7 was no different for Puneri Paltan. The Paltan’s have mostly let their fans down barring the two seasons in which they qualified for the play offs. They would be looking to change that in the upcoming season. The season 8 of the PKL is stated to begin in the 2nd half of 2021. This article looks at what Paltan need to change their fortunes in the tournament.
Puneri Paltan Last Year Performance Plus The Raiders They Should Target For Their Team In 2021
Puneri Paltan performance in season 7 was one of their worst performances over the 7 seasons of the tournament. They could manage only 7 wins. No particular player out of the squad of 16 shone for them. Paltan brought back Nitin Tomar before the last season even though he had an injury prone season 6.
Paltan still showed faith in him and brought him for over 100 lacs. Nitin Tomar didn’t perform according to the expectations of the fans as he could only manage meagre 66 raid points. The Paltan might not retain him at all. They would be skeptical of using FBM for him as well.
The supporting raiders too didn’t do much, as none of the Paltan raiders found a place in the top 10 raider list. Manjeet was their best raider with 128 points. He was supported by Pankaj Mohite to an extent who managed 118 raiding points. Paltan might look to retain one of these players to have some consistency in team selection.
But it won’t be a surprise if they don’t retain any of these two as well. The one player who didn’t get many opportunities last season was Pawan Kadiyan. They could take a risk and retain him.
Puneri Paltan Defensive Strategy For PKL Season 8
The defence did comparatively better than the raiding department in the last season. PO Surjeet Singh was their best defender. He scored 68 tackle points. He might be one of the players whom the Pune franchise might look to retain. The other experienced defenders didn’t perform as well. Giresh Ernak could only manage 33 tackle points and Jadhav could only manage 38 tackle points. Paltans might not retain these two as well.
Puneri Paltan Team For Pro Kabaddi League 2021
Paltan would look to begin their campaign in season 8 with a clean slate.
They won’t surely would like to go with the maximum purse in the auction so that they might target the likes of Rohit Kumar or Rahul Choudhury. They would also need support raiders, and since raiders always go for the maximum amount, they might risk retaining any player at all. As support raider, they might look towards Rohit Baliyan who had a decent season with U Mumba in 2019.
As far as their defense is concerned, they might either retain PO Surjeet Singh or might use FBM. Since the auction rules are yet to be announced, it would be interesting to see what option they might use.
Paltan need to rebuild their team yet again, hence they would be looking at some new names to join their side. Amit Hooda could be one option they can go for. The other defender they might bid for is Mohit Chillar.
All in all, Puneri Paltan need to do a lot of homework before they go and sit on the auction table for the next season.
Also Read: PKL Most Expensive Player