Haryana is regarded as the home of Kabaddi after so many Pro Kabaddi stars and international legends have been produced by this state. Each and every fan from this state has one wish and that is to see the franchise from the Kabaddi clan of India lifting the prestigious PKL trophy. Hence, ‘Parimatch News‘ brings an in-depth analysis of the Haryana Steelers squad for the Pro Kabaddi Season 9.
At one point, playoffs qualification seemed highly possible for Rakesh Kumar and his Dhakad Boys but unfortunately, it happened the other way around. They failed to qualify for the knockout round from a commanding position after losing both of their final league fixtures. The Steelers finished seventh in the league stage standings after fetching 64 points from 22 games and missed out on the playoffs qualification by just two points.
The failure of the previous season took Rakesh Kumar’s job as the legendary all-rounder won’t be coaching any franchise in the ninth edition. Steelers went on to replace Rakesh with another superstar personality Manpreet Singh whose coaching profile is as good as his raiding and captaincy skills. Assistant coach Neer Gulia will be accompanying the Haryana gaffer who is still in search of his maiden Pro Kabaddi triumph as a coach.
Squad
The two monarchs of Haryana Steelers’ new era!
Raiders: Manjeet Dahiya, Kumarvel Prapanjan, Meetu Sharma, Rakesh Narwal, Vinay Tevathia, Mohammad Maghsoudlou, Manish Gulia, Lovepreet Singh, Sushil Om
Defenders: Joginder Narwal, Jaideep Dahiya, Mohit Nandal, Ankit Dhull, Monu Hooda, Sunny Sehrawat, Naveen Kundu, Harsh Kumar
All-rounders: Nitin Rawal, Amirhossein Bastami
Raid Department
Haryana had a commendable depth in the raiding department of the previous season which provided them with a rotational advantage throughout the season. Former captain Vikash Kandola who was the poster boy of the Steelers from Day 1 has finally parted ways with his home franchise as the fans will be missing the familiar face a lot. Manpreet may have changed his employer but his trust in the young raiders continues as we can see so many promising names in their offensive unit.
Local lad Manjeet Dahiya and K Prapanjan who were part of the Tamil Thalaivas roster previously are set to be reunited at the Dhakad Army for the upcoming edition. The two-time PKL-winning player Prapanjan is the most experienced raider in the Steelers camp and has been participating in this league every season since the second edition.
Another veteran raider who was part of the Bengal Warriors side which lifted the PKL 7 trophy, Rakesh Narwal is going to represent his home franchise for the first time. The two youngsters Meetu Sharma and Vinay Tevathia will be seen in the Haryana colours once again. Meetu failed to live up to the expectations in his debut season but has regained his form after bagging the bronze medal with the Haryana side in the recently concluded Senior National Championship.
Defense Department
A new star in the making
The inconsistency of the defensive department was one of the major reasons behind the Steelers’ failure to qualify for the playoff round in Season 8. The star left-corner defender Surender Nada has been moved to Bengal Warriors after spending the past three PKL seasons with his home franchise. The new in charge of the Panchkula-based franchise is widely regarded as one of the best defensive coaches in the world and had a lion’s share in the transformation of many current elite defenders who were unknown before joining him.
Both corner positions will be acquired by all-rounders, Nitin Rawal and Amirhossein Bastami who are good enough to be the first-choice options. The Railways left-corner Nitin who made his PKL debut with Jaipur Pink Panthers in Season 5 has ended his ties with the inaugural champions after a four-year-long association. The presence of the PKL-winning skipper Joginder Narwal in the camp will be a crucial one as he will be providing the experience element to the energetic duo.
The newly formed cover defensive duo of Jaideep Dahiya and Mohit Nandal will be returning with an aim to replicate the previous performance and uplift their reputation as a pair. Jaideep had an incredible debut season where he emerged as the fourth highest scoring defender with 66 tackle points from 22 appearances and also held the orange armband for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the right cover defender Mohit outclassed the veteran Ravi Kumar to become first-choice as the franchise also decided to retain him and let the latter one go.
Foreign Knights
The Haryana franchise has a history of entrusting the Iranians over any other country players for the foreign roster. Rakesh Narwal had the services of two Iranian flag-bearers raider Mohammad Maghsoudlou and the defender Hamid Nader Mirzaee in the previous season. Manpreet and the team decided to buy back Maghsoudlou and went on to replace Nader with another Iranian.
The young defensive all-rounder Amirhossein Bastami caught the eyes of the Iranian Kabaddi circuit when he went on to play a pivotal role in the gold medal-winning campaign of the Persian Gulf Transportation side in the 2018 National Beach Games. Then Bastami turned up for national duties at the 2019 World Junior Kabaddi Championship and claimed the historic gold honour at the inaugural edition. Haryana submitted the highest bid of 65.1 Lac making him the third highest paid foreigner of the PKL Season 9.
Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsoudlou is a big name in Iranian Kabaddi and has been part of their national team in many international triumphs. The skilful raider debuted at the Pro Kabaddi stage with Patna Pirates in 2019 and then moved to Haryana in the following season. The reigning Asian Games gold medalist has 41 raid points from 26 PKL appearances under his helm and will be looking forward to adding more points to his individual tally.
NYP Trump Cards
Haryana Steelers did a commendable scouting job in the previous season as three of the Season 8 NYP batch players are now given preference in their strongest Starting Seven. The Panchkula-based franchise had no second thought while retaining the services of these trump cards. Hence the NYP graduates of the Steelers, Meetu Sharma, Jaideep Dahiya, Mohit Nandal and Ankit Dhull will be the part of Dhakad roster in the forthcoming season too.
Ankit Dhull is a sturdy right-corner defender who holds the raw potential to become a future Kabaddi star. He brought the bronze medal glory to his homeland Haryana at the 47th Junior National Kabaddi Championship in 2021. Ankit will be providing the backup support to Amirhossein Bastami along with another NYP pick Monu Hooda.
The newest NYP batch of Haryana Steelers consists of the names of Monu Hooda, Harsh Kumar, Sunny Sehrawat and Naveen Kundu whom we will be hearing a lot in the upcoming days. Monu trains at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) along with his teammate Meetu and has also participated in Yuva Kabaddi Series for Kaziranga Rhinos. Meanwhile, the right cover defender Sunny Sehrawat who previously trained with the Gujarat Giants roster has been once again picked by the same coaching staff.
Strongest Starting Seven
Manjeet Dahiya (Raider), K Prapanjan (Raider), Meetu Sharma (Raider), Jaideep Dahiya (Left Cover), Mohit Nandal (Right Cover), Nitin Rawal (Left Corner), Amirhossein Bastami (Right Corner)