Maninder Singh, Shadlu headline Team of the Week for PKL 9 GW 5

Two Tamil Thalaivas players are also in Khel Now’s TOTW for the past week.

The Pune leg of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9 has seen many close encounters with teams from the bottom of the table at the start that have crawled up the ranks in the points table. Tamil Thalaivas and Patna Pirates at the end of the Pune leg were outside the top 6 but are now in touching distance to get to the top 2 spots. Except for Telugu Titans, all the other teams are in contention for the playoffs spot with the mid-table highly stacked up.

Sagar (Right Corner)

Sagar the stand-in captain for Tamil Thalaivas has finally back to form after a string of average performances since the start of the PKL season 9. After Tamil Thalaivas started winning a few matches Sagar came into the act and scored back-to-back high 5s and is currently leading the super tackles table. The star defender scored eight tackle points against Telugu Titans and put up a great fight against host Puneri Paltan. 

Mohammadreza Shadlu (Left Corner)

After the arrival of the left corner specialist Patna Pirates has shown good progress. He was given the captain’s armband from Neeraj Kumar and has been showing good success with a six-match unbeaten streak. The Iranian was the top defender in season 8 but started the season slowly due to a lack of training. He has slowly crawled back to the top 10 in the tackle points section even after missing the initial few matches.

Abhishek M (Right Cover)

The right-cover defender from Tamil Thalaivas is showing good signs of progress compared to other seasons. He has been involved in many unsuccessful tackles this season as well but has scored tackle points consistently and was instrumental in Tamil Thalaivas' five-match unbeaten streak. He scored a high 5 against Puneri Paltan his first of the season.

Mahender Singh (Left Cover)

The captain of Bengaluru Bulls has been silently showing his presence on the mat and has been instrumental for Bengaluru Bulls putting up consistent performances in season 9. He has shown good maturity after taking over the captaincy but also needs to score more tackle points in the following weeks. He scored a high 5 in the previous encounter against Haryana Steelers.

Ashu Malik (Right In)

Ashu Malik has outperformed Naveen “Express” in both the encounters Dabang Delhi KC has played this week. Naveen has also scored points but Ashu Malik has performed above expectations and is having a stellar season. His performance has helped Delhi to end its six-match losing streak and will look to start fresh in the upcoming matches. Ashu has scored super 10s in both encounters and looks set to put up a good show along with Naveen consistently.

Arjun Deshwal (Left In)

Arjun Deshwal from Jaipur Pink Panthers has been the most consistent raider for the franchise in PKL season 9. In both the matches played this week the raider has scored 15 plus points in raiding and has been instrumental in Jaipur ending the three-match losing streak in the Pune leg. He has not got enough support from the secondary raiders Ajith Kumar and Rahul Chaudhari who are having a below-par season to date. Arjun occupies the 4th spot with 122 raid points.

Maninder Singh (Centre)

The 32-year-old star raider from Bengal Warriors has been the saviour for the franchise in the last three matches. In two matches played this week the raider has scored 20 and 18 points respectively. These two performances have helped him gain back to the top 5 in the most raid points table. He single-handedly guided the team to victory without requiring much support from secondary raiders. Maninder Singh currently occupies the 5th spot with 121 raid points.