Arjun Deshwal, Mohammadreza lead star-studded Team of the Week for PKL 9 GW 7

All the players featuring in the list are from different teams.

The first week of the last leg in the league stage of PKL 9 has come to end and the league is heading towards a great finish with 11 teams still fighting hard for the top 6 playoff spot to be played in Mumbai. Puneri Paltan, Bengaluru Bulls, and Jaipur Pink Panthers remain in the top 3 positions in the points table.

Here's the Team of the Week of the seventh week of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9.

Mohammadreza Chiyaneh (Left Corner)

The left-corner defender from Patna Pirates scored 20 tackle points in two matches, with 16 coming against Dababng Delhi KC alone. Shadlu created a record for scoring the most tackle points in a game eclipsing Neeraj Kumar (current teammate from Patna Pirates) who has scored 11 tackle points). With this record, the Iranian also jumped inside the top 5 of the tackle points list. He was the lone warrior in the defence scoring all the tackle points and attempting eight successful super tackles against Dabang Delhi KC. 

Sagar Rathee (Right Corner)

The defender was back to his usual form scoring two consecutive high 5s helping Tamil Thalaivas to win back-to-back encounters in the Hyderabad leg. Sagar played a vital role in defending Maninder Singh in the dying minutes of the match against Bengal Warriors. In the match against U Mumba, he attempted 80 percent of his tackles from the baulk line which many defenders fail to do.

Abhinesh Nadarajan (Right Cover)

Abhinesh Nadarajan was a vital member in the cover position for Puneri Paltan in the last week scoring at crucial junctures. The cover defender was one of the retained players from season 8 but couldn't live up to the expectation at the start of PKL season 9. But after a brief break made a good improvement by not involving in unsuccessful much and playing according to the captain's tactics.

Vishal (Left Cover)

The left-cover defender played a massive role in Dabang Delhi’s recent success in winning back-to-back encounters. The majority of the matches Delhi lost were only to the inefficiency of defence but the defensive team has regrouped with a couple of changes in the corner positions making an impact. Vishal scored a high 5 after a long time in season 9 and was effective in the second match he played.

Maninder Singh (Centre)

The 32-year-old raider from Jalandhar has been in red-hot form in the Hyderabad leg scoring three successive super 10s and is the lone raider battling out for Bengal Warriors. Shrikanth Jadhav and Manoj Gowda have looked in patches but have not put in their complete effort in terms of the number of points scored which has been hurting the Bengal Warriors badly. The star raider continues to occupy the top 5 spots in the raid points table.

Bharat (Left In)

Bharat from Bengaluru Bulls as always has been the most consistent raider for Bengaluru Bulls in PKL season 9. He failed to score a super 10 against Puneri Paltan but gave a terrific comeback after the end of the dismal first half. Bharat scored more than six raid points in the last five minutes against Pune and reduced the margin of defeat to only two points. Bengaluru Bulls were trailing by more than ten points but in the end, gave a tough fight and with that Bharat sits in 2nd spot with 196 raid points.

Arjun Deshwal (Right In)

He has been making it to the team of the week consistently showing his dominance in the raiding department for Jaipur Pink Panthers. Arjun Deshwal holds on to the top spot in the raid points table and could have become the first raider in PKL season 9 to cross the 200 raid points mark but fell short by one point and is in the top spot with 199 raid points.