The Giants Army from the prosperous land of Gujarat is going through hard preparations to aim for their first-ever Pro Kabaddi League triumph. The Ahmedabad-based franchise has left no stone unturned to get closure to their ultimate aim but always misses out on glory from a short distance. Hence, ‘Parimatch News‘ brings an in-depth analysis of the Gujarat Giants squad for the Pro Kabaddi Season 9.
Gujarat initiated their Pro Kabaddi League journey by making two consecutive final appearances in the first two seasons. After the disastrous campaign of Season 7, the Giants staged a quick bounce-back and qualified for the playoff round of the previous season. However, their Season 8 campaign ended in the Eliminator clash where they were defeated by Bengaluru with a huge margin of 20 points.
For the first time, Giants implemented a complete overhaul of the playing squad and coaching staff as well. Hence the heart of Gujarat, coach Manpreet Singh and the Sunil-Parvesh duo have ended their ties with the franchise and are not going to be part of the new era. The gaffer Ram Mehar Singh who was the head coach of Season 5 champions Patna Pirates defeating his current employer is ready for his new coaching stint.
Squad
And the Ram Mehar Singh Era for Gujarat Giants begins!
Raiders: Rakesh Sungroya, Chandran Ranjith, Mahendra Ganesh Rajput, Pardeep Kumar Yadav, Sonu Jaglan, Dong Geon Lee, Parteek Dahiya, Gaurav Chhikhara, Sonu Narwal, Sohit Malik, Puran Shekhawat, Sawin Narwal
Defenders: Sandeep Kandola, Baldev Singh, Rinku Narwal, Young Chang Ko, Sourav Gulia, Vinod Malik, Kapil Narwal, Manuj, Ujjval Singh
All-rounders: Arkam Shaikh, Shankar Gadai, Rohan Ghanghas
Raid Department
Rakesh Sungroya was an unknown commodity before Season 8 but went on to stun the PKL universe after displaying an in-depth raiding skill-set. Gujarat’s raiding department was stacked with experienced names however, it did not stop Rakesh to become the Giants’ premier raiding option. The Chandigarh-based youngster scored 140 raid points in 27 games in his debut season and became their first choice for retention.
Chandran Ranjith who had his first breakthrough PKL campaign with Gujarat Giants in Season 5 is back with the Ahmedabad-based franchise after five years. The 31-year-old is widely regarded as one of the best supporting raiders in the world as his presence always gives an assurance to his coach that the main raider of the team will be revived soon. The left-raider was part of the Bengaluru Bulls roster in the previous season where scored his oldest individual tally since the second edition on the parimatch bd https://parimatchbet-bd.com/ statistic.
The Maharashtrian raider Mahendra Ganesh Rajput is gearing up for another Pro Kabaddi campaign with the Gujarat franchise. The towering attacking is quite a familiar face in the Giants camp who will be representing the for the fourth season in a row. Rajput will be facing stiff competition for the third raider position from Pardeep Kumar who also received wide praise for his debut campaign in the previous season.
Defense Department
Gujarat is always known for having a star-studded defensive line however things aren’t the same after the departure of Manpreet Singh. They had the strongest on-paper defensive unit in the previous season consisting of Sunil Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal, Ravinder Pahal, Girish Maruti Ernak and Hadi Oshtorak. However, the new coaching management decided not to retain any existing defenders and went on to have a major revamp in the defensive department.
The services star left-corner Sandeep Kandola will be the first-choice option for that position while the seventh edition champion with Bengal Warriors, Rinku Narwal will be also there to provide depth.
Rinku’s teammate of that PKL-winning season, Baldev Singh has also arrived at Giants camp after spending a one-off season with Puneri Paltan. Baldev will be accompanied by the silver medal-winning Maharashtra captain Shankar Gadai who will be gracing the PKL stage for the time.
However, the cover defense department of the Ahmedabad-based outfit lacks star power as we will see many new faces in those positions for the upcoming edition. We won’t get to see the deadly duo of Sunil-Parvesh in Gujarat colours for the first time since their addition to the PKL roster. The Mumbai-based left-cover defender Arkam Shaikh who was part of the Maharashtra side along with Gadai in the recently concluded Senior Nationals shows a lot of promise.
Foreign Knights
Two Iranian defenders, versatile Hadi Oshtorak and the left-corner Soleiman Pahlevani were the foreign picks of Manpreet in Season 8. Ram Mehar Singh came up with his own choices and decided to part ways with both of the Iranians. He replaced them with two South Koreans Young Chang Ko and Dong Geon Lee who were both a part of the national side that gave India a major upset in the opening fixture of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup.
Young Chang Ko is a short but sturdy cover defender who kick-started his PKL career with Bengal Warriors in Season 5. Then he moved to the inaugural champions Jaipur Pink Panthers in the following season where he caught the eyes of the Kabaddi universe through his Super Tackle heroics. Ko’s services were acquired by the U Mumba side in Season 7 which was also his last stint at this stage before going unsold in Season 8 auctions.
It is the homecoming for the 26-year-old who was part of the Gujarat Giants roster in Season 6 where they emerged as runners-up for consecutive seasons. The South Korean left-raider has represented four different franchises in four seasons of his Pro Kabaddi career. Lee most recently represented Bengaluru in the previous campaign where he scored 10 points in 14 raids including a two-pointer in his first raid of the game which awarded a nail-biting triumph to the Bulls against Bengal.
NYP Trump Cards
Highly Skilled Rakesh aiming it big
The Gujarat gaffer may have retained only a single ERP player from the previous roster however, he used all his NYP cards to see them in Red and Yellow kits once again. The list of NYP category players who received retentions consists of the names of Rakesh Sungroya, Gourav Chhikhara, Sonu Narwal and Sohit Malik. Rakesh is the next big thing for the Red Monsters hence his retention was an absolute one.
Sohit is the emerging raider hailing from Neer Gulia Academy which is owned by the former assistant coach of the Gujarat Giants side of the same name. He was part of the NGA squad which toured Gotegaon to participate in the All India Kabaddi Championship where he scored 22 raid points in just two appearances. Gourav Chhikhara who currently serves the Haryana Police is also a player to watch out for the upcoming season.
Meanwhile, the newest NYP batch of PKL features the two budding names of the raider Parteek Dahiya and all-rounder Rohan Ghanghas who were both a part of the Patna Pirates roster previously. Parteek the Yuva Paltan graduate is the nephew of the former Indian captain Deepak Niwas Hooda and has also won the best raider honour in the inaugural edition of the Yuva Kabaddi Series.
Strongest Starting Seven
Rakesh Sungroya (Raider), Chandran Ranjith (Raider), Mahendra Ganesh Rajput (Raider), Arkam Shaikh (Left Cover), Young Chang Ko (Right Cover), Sandeep Kandola (Left Corner), Baldev Singh (Right Corner)