PKL 9: Reasons for Tamil Thalaivas's unbeaten run in the Pune Leg

Change of coach has turned the fortunes of the team in the season.

Tamil Thalaivas is on a five-match unbeaten run in PKL 9. And it is for the first time since season 5 they have remained unbeaten for these many matches. Of the last five, the southern team has won four and tied one match. And at the time of publishing the article, Tamil Thalaivas is in the top 6 of the points table. Ashan Kumar after taking over the team from Udhay Kumar helped the team recover their lost mojo.

When he was appointed coach Tamil Thalaivas was in the 11th position but now comfortably sits in the top 6.

Since the start of the Pune leg, Tamil Thalaivas has started all the matches on an aggressive note. In the matches against Dabang Delhi KC and Jaipur Pink Panthers, Tamil Thalaivas were leading by more than 12 points at the end of the first half with Narender Kandola getting to his super 10 pretty quickly. The opposition team found it difficult to negate the huge point difference going into the second half.

Sagar scored 82 tackle points in season 8. And he was second in the tackle points table. But since the start of season 9 the captain has not shown his full ability and at times stayed quiet. In the last two matches, Sagar has scored 12 tackle points which are almost half of what he scored in the first nine matches(27). He put in two solo tackles against the strong Puneri Paltan raiders showing his dominance. Sagar and Chiyaneah will be fighting for who will finish on top for the most number of solo tackles in season 9.

Abhishek M throughout PKL season 9 has put in many unsuccessful tackles. But in the last few matches, he has started scoring points at a brisk rate compared to the start of the season. His solo dashes have garnered him many tackle points. Overall the cover defender has scored 20 tackle points and is inside the top 20 in the defender's section.

AJinkya Pawar could only score around 20 points combined in the first six matches. And he was often substituted or would not start in the playing 7 as well in the Bengaluru leg. But since the start of the Pune leg, he has stayed active in both raiding and defence scoring points consistently. His six points super raid in the fag end shall be one of the most happening raids of the season. He has slowly started to score super 10s and is playing the role of secondary raider to perfection.

Before the start of the PKL 9's Pune Leg, Tamil Thalaivas faltered in the majority of the super tackle situation but has slowly started to score points in super tackles as well. Sagar played an important role in holding one side of the defence and was instrumental in the win against Puneri Paltan where Tamil Thalaivas scored four points in a super tackle situation helping them beat Pune.

Scope for improvements

After scoring points at a brisk pace in the first half, the southern side is allowing the opponents to get into the game in the second half and are not showing the same intent throughout the match. Narender Kandola needs to continue with the same pace throughout the match but is scoring super 10s regularly. As mentioned above Tamil Thalaivas won by a five-point margin against Jaipur after taking a huge lead and tying the match against Bengal Warriors.

Sahil Gulia has been off-colour in the left corner position but had a good start to PKL season 9. He has many unsuccessful tackles. And the primary raiders like Arjun Deshwal and Maninder Singh have taken full use of this. Sahil needs to slow down and tackle whenever required.