It’s time for India to chant “Kabaddi Kabaddi” along with the raiders who will be marching towards the opposition half with an aim to battle against the defenders for 30 seconds each and every time. Pro Kabaddi League is coming up with its ninth edition to write another chapter in the timeline of this revolutionary top-flight competition.
The brand new season of the PKL will be resuming the action-packed experience of this throbbing sport which was halted in February month of the same year. The PKL is universally known as the grandest stage of Kabaddi owing to the prestige and legacy of this league. The ground-breaking tournament was launched by Mashal Sports in association with the broadcasting entity Star Sports in the year 2014.
The inaugural edition of this league was also held in the same year which turned out to be the path-maker for the game of soil to reach out to millions of consumers across the world. It commenced as an eight-team competition taking inspiration from the format of the Indian Premier League in the initial seasons.
However, the league expansion staged before the fifth season opened the doors for the new four entrants Haryana Steelers, UP Yoddha, Tamil Thalaivas, and Gujarat Giants. The number of matches per season was also increased as each participant now gets 22 matches in the league stage instead of 14.
PKL participating teams, their captains and coaches:
| Team | Head Coach | Captain |
| Bengal Warriors | K Bhaskaran | Maninder Singh |
| Bengaluru Bulls | Randhir Singh Sehrawat | Mahender Singh |
| Dabang Delhi KC | Krishan Kumar Hooda | Naveen Goyat |
| Gujarat Giants | Ram Mehar Singh | Chandran Ranjit |
| Haryana Steelers | Manpreet Singh | Joginder Narwal |
| Jaipur Pink Panthers | Sanjeev Baliyan | Rahul Choudhary |
| Patna Pirates | Ravi Shetty | Neeraj Kumar |
| Puneri Paltan | BC Ramesh | Fazel Atrachali |
| Tamil Thalaivas | J Udayakumara | Pawan Kumar Sehrawat |
| Telugu Titans | Venkatesh Goud | Ravinder Pahal |
| U Mumba | Anil Chaprana | Surinder Singh |
| UP Yoddha | Jasveer Singh | Nitesh Kumar |
The eighth season of the Pro Kabaddi was a special one as it was the first major tournament in the World Kabaddi after the outbreak of Covid-19. After making so many unsuccessful attempts, the Dabang Delhi side finally managed to get their hands on the prestigious PKL trophy while their star raider Naveen Kumar Goyat added the first major silverware of his career.
Dabangs from the Capital City defeated Patna Pirates who missed out on their fourth PKL glory from a very short distance. Bengaluru Bulls and UP Yodhha had brilliant campaigns to remember and get motivation from as well for the upcoming PKL season.
Dates
Season 9 will be kick-starting with the combat of two traditional rivals!
The caravan of Pro Kabaddi League will have a kick-off on the 7th of October 2022 where the defending champions Dabang Delhi will be taking on the challenge of U Mumba in the opening fixture. It will be followed by the season’s first Southern Derby between Bengaluru Bulls and Telugu Titans and the inaugural champions Jaipur Pink Panthers squaring off against UP Yoddha in the final game of the first Match Day.
Another top-flight sporting league in the country, the Indian Super League is also kick-starting their ninth season on the same day. The fight for TV sports viewership will be hot for the next week with India hosting South Africa in a 3-match ODI series as well.
As per the announced schedule, a total of 67 fixtures will be played across the 28 matchdays of the first phase. Only the first 67 out of 132 ties have been announced as of now. Just like the previous season, the authorities will be announcing the rest of the fixtures as soon the first phase inches closer to its consummation.
Venues
As per the official announcement, the league stage campaign of Season 9 will be held across three venues, unlike the previous season which was staged at the solitary venue of Bengaluru’s Grand Sheraton Hotel. Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad are the chosen three cities which will be hosting the 132 league games till the middle of December. It’s good news for the PKL fans as the organisers have also given the green signal for them to spectate live Kabaddi action at the stadium.
However, we are still far from reverting back to the classic caravan format of the PKL league stage which was one of the unique aspects of this tournament. Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, the home of Bengaluru Bulls will be hosting the first 41 games from the 7th to 26th of October 2022. Then the caravan will be moving to the historic venue of Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune for the second leg followed by a tour of the ‘City of Nizams’.
Format Explainer
The initial format of Pro Kabaddi was highly inspired by IPL where eight teams played against each in a round-robin format followed by the knockout stages consisting of semifinal and finals. However, they went on to introduce Zonal group formats after the expansion where each franchise played against their group-mates thrice and with the opposite zonal teams at least once. Due to the imbalanced competition in group stages, the zonal format was also scrapped after the sixth edition.
The seventh season saw the return of the traditional round-robin format which provided equal opportunities for every competitor to play against each other in the initial stages. The PKL Season 9 will also follow the same where 12 participants will be battling hard to earn the ticket to the knockout round. The implemented format also kept the classic caravan system alive which will be soon brought back once the organisers are able to accomplish it.
At the end of the league stages, the Top 6 teams from Points Table will be advancing to the warfare of the playoffs. The table-toppers and runners-up will be rewarded with a seed to directly feature in the semi-final round. Meanwhile, the rest of the four playoff participants will have to emerge victorious in their respective Eliminator ties in order to qualify for the Semifinals.
Star attraction
The PKL stars were on fire during the 36th National Games in Gujarat
Pro Kabaddi League has proved itself as the best platform in the world where players from all around the globe can showcase their talents and become overnight sensations. In the previous season, we witnessed a legendary two-way fight between the teammates Mohit Goyat and Aslam Inamdar for the Emerging Player of the Season. A lot of debutant knights are gearing up to make their claim on that prestigious honour this season too.
The star attraction of the Pro Kabaddi remains the kind of phenomenon raiders who take part in this competition. The new-age raiding stars Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Naveen Kumar Goyat, and Arjun Deshwal will be taking the field with an aim to prolong their reign. The veteran stars such as Pardeep Narwal, Rahul Chaudhari, and Maninder Singh will be looking forward to writing another chapter of their glorious PKL career.
The league organisers have made it mandatory for all franchises to keep at least two foreign players in the squad. The foreign roster of Season 9 consists of overseas players from six nations Iran (13), South Korea (3), Kenya (2), Bangladesh (2), Nepal (2) and Sri Lanka (2). Meanwhile, the Iranian ‘Sultan’ Fazel Atrachali who will be leading the Puneri Paltan side once again stands out as the only foreign skipper in the league.