Patna Pirates Aim for a fresh start to the season after their Squad Overhaul
– Ambrish Upadhyay
Talking about the most successful team in PKL History “Patna Pirates”, who have won 3 PKL titles (The most by any team) in 7 seasons played so far. The team made a hattrick of title victory by winning PKL 3, PKL 4 & PKL 5.
However, everyone got shocked after the news of Pardeep Narwal’s participation in PKL 8 player auctions. The “Heart” of Patna Pirates Pardeep Narwal wasn’t retained by the management for PKL 8.
Later, in the auction the “Record Breaker” broke another record by becoming the highest sold player in the history of Pro Kabaddi League. UP Yoddha signed him in a huge amount of 1.65 crores.
To cover-up Pardeep’s spot , Patna have signed Sachin Tanwar (84 L), Prashanth Rai (55 L), and their former star raider Monu Goyat (20 L) in the auction.
Patna have also signed the most expensive foreign signing of the PKL 8 auction- Iran’s All-Rounder Md. Reza Shadlou (31 L). To match the level of what Pardeep has done for the team so far, this newly formed raiding side seems a little bit disbalanced.
Statistically speaking, the raiding unit of Monu, Prashanth, Sachin & Jang Kun lee have combined scored a total of 300 raid points in PKL 7 which still falls 2 points less than Pardeep’s season 7 raid points (302 raid points).
1- Monu Goyat = 65 raid points
2- Prashanth Rai = 91 raid points
3- Sachin Tanwar = 84 raid points
4- Jang Kun Lee = 60 raid points
The stats are enough to sum up the raiding unit of Patna Pirates. All the eyes will be on the Iran’s all rounder Md. Reza Shadlou , will he be able to leave an impression in his debut season or not.
Talking about the defence , Patna retained Neeraj Tanwar who scored 59 Tackle points in PKL 7 & Monu kumar (26 tackle points). Patna have signed the experienced defender Sunil , who scored 55 tackle points in previous season playing for Haryana Steelers.
The emerging right corner from Maharashtra Shubham Shinde, who recently won the Bronze Medal with Maharashtra in 68TH Senior Nationals is also signed by Pirates for PKL 8. The NYPs Sourav Gulia, Sandeep, Sajin Chandrasekhar & Sahil Mann would also be the interesting picks to watch out for in PKL 8.
It would be interesting to watch how well Patna will utilize their most expensive overseas buy of the season, Md. Reza can be a great asset to the team.
Patna have tried their best to build a balanced side after releasing their key player ‘Pardeep Narwal”.
How well this newly formed squad will perform as a unit in PKL 8 would be exciting to watch out. Among the raiding unit someone will have to lead the charge from front to maintain the legacy which Pardeep has made for the 3x PKL Champions.