Down memory lane: Looking back at PKL Season 4

Patna Pirates won the second of their three Pro Kabaddi League titles this edition.

After the successful completion of PKL season 3, the next season started within a gap of a few months with the organizers conducting the PKL twice a year and 2016 was the only year when the PKL was held twice. Patna Pirates continued their dominance winning the title for the second consecutive time defeating inaugural champions Jaipur Pink Panthers. U Mumba for the first time in PKL’s history did not qualify for the playoffs. U Mumba reached the finals in the first three seasons winning the title in the second season and finishing runner-up (2014 and 2016 with Anup Kumar the captain unable to replicate his brilliance in the raiding department.

Auctions

Mohit Chillar was the costliest buy in season 4 auctions going for a hefty price of 53 lakhs to Bengaluru Bulls. He formed a good combination with Surender Nada while representing U Mumba and the pair was fondly referred to as “SuMo”. Amongst the foreigners, Fazel Athrachali was begged by the reigning champions Patna Pirates for 38 lakhs and his national teammates too went for good buys. Meraj Sheikh the all-rounder changed trades from Telugu Titans to Dabang Delhi KC and was brought in for 19 lakhs. A total of 96 players were sold among the list of 196 players with a total spent amount of 12.82 crores.

Top Raiders

1. Rahul Chaudhari

Matches - 16 | Raid Points - 146

Rahul Chaudhari for the first time finished at the top of the raid points table after finishing the previous three seasons in the top 5 list. He continued to represent Telugu Titans and was their lead raider. Also apart from season 1, the raiders could not cross the 150 raid points barrier mark with the league still in its nascent stages. Also, the raider occupied the first spot in the number of successful tackles with 110 and in do-or-die raids with 38 points overall.

2. Pardeep Narwal

Matches - 16 | Raid Points - 131

Pardeep Narwal guided the Patna Pirates to the second successive title and once again featured in the top 5 of the raiders chart. His overall successful raids stood at 100 the second most after showman Rahul Chaudhari. 

3. Deepak Niwas Hooda

Matches - 16 | Raid Points -126

The all-rounder switched sides and was part of the Puneri Paltan franchise scoring 126 raid points and scoring four tackles points. He couldn't contribute much in the defensive section solely contributing as a primary raider along with Ajay Thakur.

Top Defenders

Fazel Athrachali

Matches - 16 | Tackle Points - 52

This was the first time that a defender topped the points table and Fazel Athchali stamped his name amongst all the foreign players in season 4. He was a vital cog under Ram Mehar Singh in the left-corner position and played well throughout the league. The Iranian justified his price tag of being the costliest foreign buy.

Amit Hooda

Matches - 16 | Tackle Points - 51

Amit Hooda representing Jaipur Pink Panthers had a fruitful season and was one of the experienced youngsters in the PKL playing since season 1. He along with Ran Singh formed a good corner combination execution their strategies well. Amit Hooda was slightly ahead of Fazel Athrachali in the number of successful (47).

Mohit Chillar

Matches - 14 | Tackle Points - 47

The costliest buy of season 4 had done his job to perfection scoring the third-highest tackle points in the season and this was a standout year for the defender representing Bengaluru Bulls.

Super 10s 

Rahul Chaudhari - 7

Pardeep Narwal - 5

Rishank Devadiga - 2

The number of super 10s scored was quite less compared to the previous seasons.

High 5s

Manjeet Chillar - 5

Mohit Chillar - 4

Dharamraj Cheralathan - 4