Having crashed out in the semi-finals last season, three-time Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) champions Patna Pirates will be eager to reclaim title glory, come season 11. The most successful team in PKL history, the Pirates bagged a hat-trick of titles from seasons 3 to 5 and will be keen to get their hands on the coveted trophy once again. (More Sports News)
Narender Redhu, who led Patna to the semi-finals in PKL 10 as head coach, will hope to help the Pirates enjoy another solid campaign and qualify for the playoffs, at the very least.
Patna were one of the busiest teams at the Season 11 player auction table and bought more than a dozen players to add to their squad. Here’s a closer look at their strengths and weaknesses ahead of the new campaign.
Strengths
The Pirates’ biggest strength in PKL 11 is likely to be the depth of their squad across both attack and defence. The auction saw them acquire plenty of fresh talent, with defender Shubham Shinde being their most expensive purchase at INR 70 lakh followed by all-rounder Gurdeep at INR 59 lakh.
Their raiding unit could be led by Sudhakar M, who was a revelation in his debut campaign that saw him notch up 103 raid points. Sandeep Kumar is another promising raider who will look to better his previous tally of 86 raid points for the Pirates, in what was also his first PKL season. Their attack also features the likes of Meetu Sharma and Jang Lee, who have amassed 267 and 471 raid points respectively.
Similar to their attack, the Pirates also boast a lot of pedigree and variety in defence. Shubham Shinde and Deepak Singh, who have accumulated 151 and 61 tackle points in PKL respectively, are expected to be their leaders in defence, while all-rounders Gurdeep and Ankit are also likely to chip in. Gurdeep has 85 tackle points under his belt in PKL, whereas Ankit has managed 66 tackle points in his sole season so far.
Weaknesses
The lack of quality like-for-like replacements from last season in both attack and defence could potentially hurt the Pirates. Despite their squad depth and quantity of players, the lack of quality options to replace their lead raider last season, Sachin, along with ex-skipper Neeraj Kumar may come back to haunt Patna.
Krishan, who was their best defender last season with 78 tackle points, won’t be a part of the team in the upcoming season, meaning the Pirates are without both their best raider and defender from the previous edition. With Jang Lee being the only raider in their team to play more than 60 games in PKL, the lack of experience in attack coupled with the Pirates’ defensive frailties cannot be ignored.
Opportunities
The relative inexperience could allow players to rise to the challenge by taking the onus of scoring points on themselves. Three such individuals who can potentially emerge as leaders in the team in Season 11 are Sudhakar M and Sandeep Kumar in attack and Shubham Shinde in defence.
With Sachin no longer a part of the team, a lot will be expected from Sudhakar M and it will be interesting to see if he’s up to the task of becoming a lead raider. Similarly, Shubham enjoyed a solid season with 62 tackle points last time around. With Neeraj Kumar and Krishan not there, Shubham will be hoping to don the role of a leader in defence.
Threats
The lack of genuine all-rounders in the team is a potential threat to the Pirates as it could hamper the overall balance of the side. Even though Gurdeep and Ankit are their two most experienced all-rounders on paper, the fact that they combine for a total of two raid points in their PKL career highlights their shortcomings in attack.
As a result, Patna’s raiding unit should be on the money more often than not, adding to the pressure on an already burdened and inexperienced attack. The three-time champions will hope that the experienced Jang Lee and Meetu Sharma can perform to their maximum potential, having not been in the best of form in the past few seasons.
