Tamil Thalaivas remains the only Pro Kabaddi League franchise which is yet to make an appearance at the playoff stages. In a four-season long stay at the World’s grandest league, the Chennai-based has used every arrow in the quiver but always found themselves at the bottom of the league stage standings. Hence the Thalaivas management has finally come up with their ‘Brahmastra’ named Pawan Kumar Sehrawat whose arrival has brought life to their PKL roster.
The Thalaivas could attain only 47 points in the 22 fixtures of the previous season and went on to consummate their campaign in the eleventh position. However, it still stood as their best performance after scoring the most match points and avoiding the bottom-most position for the first time since their breakout at this stage.
They were considered the title contenders at the initial stages but Surjeet and the boys could not sustain further the momentum and suffered a barbarous fate. Despite the flop show in Season 8, the gaffer J Udayakumara will continue as in charge of the Southern Thunderbolts in the upcoming edition too. He has been given a second chance by the authorities to fulfil their ultimate dream of witnessing the Blues lifting the prestigious PKL trophy.
Hence, ‘Parimatch News‘ brings an in-depth analysis of the Tamil Thalaivas squad for the Pro Kabaddi Season 9.
Squad
Raiders: Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Ajinkya Pawar, Himanshu Singh, Narender Kandola, Jatin Phogat, Himanshu Narwal
Defenders: Sagar Rathee, Mohit Jakhar, Sahil Gulia, M Abhishek, Arpit Saroha, Ankit Malik, Ashish, Mohammad Arif Rabbani
All-rounders: Himanshu Yadav, K Abhimanyu, Thanushan Laxamamohan, Viswanath V
Raid Department
Will the raid machine be able to continue forward the raiding storm for his new home too?
The Chennai-based did not hesitate in breaking all PKL auction records to announce the superstar raider Pawan Kumar Sehrawat as their new Thalaiva. The Thalaivas paid the record-breaking auction price of 2.26 crores to acquire the services of the right-sided raider who has 1036 PKL career points under his name. Pawan has been topping the individual raid points chart for the last three editions as the fans of his new destination must be expecting the same performance from him.
After Rohit Kumar and Chandran Ranjith, Pawan has found a new partner in the form of Ajinkya Ashok Pawar who will be accompanying him to his new home. The Maharashtrian youngster was the only player from the ERP category who was retained by the franchise ahead of the PKL Season 9 auctions. He was initially used by J Udayakumara as a Super-sub however, the heroics of Pawar eventually forced the head coach to promote him as a premier option.
The lack of renowned names in the raiding unit can be a problem in near future however, the presence of two big guns Pawan and Ajinkya makes it intelligible. Two familiar faces for the Thalaivas named Himanshu Yadav and Himanshu Singh can solve the puzzle of the third raider. Yadav is an all-rounder who has shown a glimpse of his raiding potential in the last two editions and it is the time for the youngster to grab the dolly.
Defense Department
Sagar Rathee is ready to siege the routes of opponent raiders
The departure of the former skipper Surjeet will be a major missing for the Thalaivas this season for not only his defensive presence but the captaincy skills as well. One man’s absence is another man’s opportunity hence it is the golden opportunity for the right-corner defender Sagar Rathee to step-up as the new leader of the Tamil defense.
Sagar had a breakthrough campaign in the previous season where he finished second in the individual tackle points charts. The 23-year-old went on to score a whopping tally of 82 tackle points from 22 appearances and held the prestigious Orange Armband for a long period before the Iranian Mohammadreza Shadloui overtook him in the playoffs.
Left-corner defender Sahil Gulia had a great start to his PKL career as he finished his maiden campaign with 30 tackle points in 18 matches. The sturdy Haryana-based defender snatched the first-choice left-corner status from the veteran Sagar Krishna who was left on the bench throughout the season. The corner-defense department of Thalaivas also features the name of Arpit Saroha who led the Uttar Pradesh side to a bronze medal finish at the Khelo India Youth Games, Panchkula.
The first-choice left-cover option Mohit Jakhar has been retained by the franchise to don the Blue and Yellow outfit once again. Meanwhile, the local Tamizhan lad M Abhishek can be seen overtaking the vacant right-cover position replacing Surjeet.
Foreign Knights
Tamil Thalaivas accommodated two foreign all-rounders in their previous roster, Sri Lankan Anwar Baba Shahid and Bangladeshi Mohammad Tuhin Tarafder. Both of them are no longer part of the franchise after failing to make any mark in a one-off season. However, the Chennai-based outfit has bolstered its foreign department with players of the same nationality.
The right-corner Mohammad Arif Rabbani from the land of Bangladesh will be providing depth to the right side of the defense. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan all-rounder Thanushan Laxamamohan’s presence brings international versatility to the Southerners. Both of the foreign knights of Tamil Thalaivas have been purchased by the franchise at the base price of 10-10 Lakhs.
NYP Trump Cards
The Tamil Thunderstorm’s NYP batch of the previous season proved themselves as the brightest among all franchises. Especially the likes of Mohit Jakhar and Sahil Gulia who directly went on to play a prominent role in the First Seven in their very first Pro Kabaddi campaign. Hence the Chennai-based franchise had no second thoughts before retaining Himanshu Singh, Ashish, and M Abhishek through the NYP category.
The three young knights Narender Kandola, Jatin Phogat, and Himanshu Narwal have been added to the main squad as New Young Player induction. Narender Kandola is the raiding product of the youth system of the Sports Authority of India and has been training at Gandhinagar centre along with another NYP star Jatin Phogat. The flag-bearer of the Narwal clan, Himanshu is an energetic left-sided raider and has shown promising performance in the local Kabaddi circuit of Haryana.
Jatin Phogat was part of Amritsar’s Guru Nanak Dev University which represented the north zone in the All India Inter-University Kabaddi Championship. He then participated in Yuva Kabaddi Series (YKS) for Kaziranga Rhinos which caught the eyes of Tamil scouts. In a YKS league fixture against Tadoba Tigers, Jatin was adjudged Player of the Match for his raiding masterclass consisting of 16 touch points and 3 bonus points.
Strongest Starting Seven
Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (Raider), Ajinkya Pawar (Raider), Himanshu Yadav (All-rounder), M Abhishek (Left Cover), Mohit Jakhar (Right Cover), Sahil Gulia (Left Corner), Sagar Rathee (Right Corner)