PKL 9: Tamil Thalaivas miss star power of Pawan Sehrawat in semis exit

Narender Kandola was the find of the season for the team.

Tamil Thalaivas surprised many in PKL season 9 reaching the semifinals. Tamil Thalaivas was the only team which did not reach the playoffs and in the end, the record was broken and qualified for the playoffs. The start was pretty poor losing their captain and star raider Pawan Sehrawat and then replacing their coach. The team played as a unit and did not rely on individual performances which made them succeed this season.

Top Performers in PKL 9

Narender Kandola

Narender Kandola breached many records this season and was the highest raid points scorer for the team. He was scouted while playing at the Khelo India Youth Games and put up a grand showing at the PKL as well. In the absence of star raider, Pawan Sehrawat he took care of the raiding department throughout the tournament. Overall the raider scored 15 super 10s highest in the debut season and was the fastest to score 200 raid points in the history of PKL.

Ajinkya Pawar

Ajinkya is with the franchise from season 8 and did justice to his role. Initially, in the first six matches, Ajinkya scored less than 20 points but since Ashan Kumar took over his style of playing changed completely and the combination with Narender Kandola worked out pretty well. The standout moment was scoring six and five points in a single raid both against Telugu Titans in crucial situations.

Sahil Gulia

The left-corner defender finished the league as the leading tackle points scorer in the league with 57 points. In the absence of Sagar in the latter part of the league stages, Sahil led the defence pretty well. Sahil Gulia started the season on a positive note but lost momentum in the mid-season but eventually started to score points towards the fag end.

Underperformer in PKL 9

Mohit

The left-cover defender could score only 34 tackle points in the 24 matches he played for Tamil Thalaivas in PKL season 9. Mohit scored only one high five throughout the season and had one of the most unsuccessful tackle rates. He played a crucial role in the playoff match against UP Yoddhas in the tiebreaker scoring two tackle points and one raid point. Apart from this, there were not many notable performances.  

Manager’s report card

Ashan Kumar for the majority was the coach of the season. Taking over the team who was in the 11th spot and reaching the semifinals is a big achievement. Tamil Thaliavas at the start lost Pawan Sehrwar and then lost the services of Sagar Rathee at the crucial juncture of the league phase. Losing the top two players didn't affect the team. Tamil Thalaivas played as a unit rather than depending on a single player and also going by the coach’s guidance.

Lessons to be learned

Ashan Kumar gave more game time to the main seven players of Tamil Thalaivas throughout the season and failed to try out others on the bench. Persisting with the main players proved to be good in the end but the other players could also have been game time to test their skills. Himanshu the right raider looked like a bright talent but could get only limited opportunities.