Five legends who could go unsold in the next PKL season

These players might remain unsold in the upcoming PKL season.

The history of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) has seen many legendary players so far. The performance of some of these players has been very good, while some players have not been able to perform at their best. Players like Pardeep Narwal, Naveen Kumar, Manjit Chillar, Pawan Sehrawat, Maninder Singh, Nitesh Kumar, Sumit, Ravinder Pahal, Sachin Tanwar, and Vikash Kandola have made their mark. However, there have been some players whose performances have been very disappointing.

The 8th season of PKL went very badly for these players. Thus, keeping this scenario in mind, no team may bid for these players in the auction of the next PKL season. Should that happen, a majority of legends will not be able to perform in front of their fans again.

5. Rishank Devadiga

Rishank Devadiga's performance has not been good in the last few PKL seasons. He was a part of the Bengal Warriors team last year where he only got to play one match. In that single match, he managed to score just one point in eight raids. Previously, the raider played for UP Yoddha from fifth to seventh season. He scored 164 points in the fifth season, 103 points in the sixth, while only 79 in the seventh.

This shows the descent in his performance as seasons passed by. Therefore, it seems very unlikely that any team will pick Rishank in the upcoming season(s) with several new players coming up.

4. Joginder Narwal

Joginder Narwal led Dabang Delhi defeated Patna Pirates to win the 8th season of PKL. Earlier in the seventh season, the team had to face defeat in the final by a close margin. Dabang Delhi's performance under the captaincy of Joginder Narwal has been good but when it comes to his own performance, it doesn’t seem to live up by the reputation.

Talking about some last few seasons then, in the 8th season, he was able to get only 32 points in 19 matches. He scored 49 points in 22 matches in the seventh season and 51 points in 22 matches in the sixth season. Joginder Narwal's age factor also seems to tarnish his agility during gameplay. In such a scenario, he may not be seen playing for any team in the next season.

3. Jeeva Kumar

Jeeva Kumar is one of the most experienced players of PKL. Even at the age of 50, playing a physically demanding and excruciating game like Kabaddi is quite surprising. However, his performance seems to be no longer the same. Last season, he scored 23 points in 21 matches. In the seventh season, he had 43 points to his name while in the sixth season, he was only able to score 42 points. The game of Kabaddi requires a lot of speed and having to play at 50 doesn’t help in any way. In such a situation, he may also not be seen playing us next season.

2. Rahul Chaudhari

Rahul Chaudhari is one of the highest scorers in the PKL history. He has a total of 1027 raid points in 127 matches, placing him at no.4 in the overall list of players. This shows how big a player Rahul Chaudhari has been. However, in the last few seasons, the raider’s form hasn’t stood by his side.

He was a part of Puneri Paltan's team in the 8th season of PKL, where he got to play only seven matches and was able to score only 13 points. He had 138 points in 22 matches in the seventh season and 166 points in 21 matches in the sixth. Therefore, Rahul Chaudhari’s name value may not be able to proportionate with his game and he may not be selected for the next season.

1. Ajay Thakur

Former Indian team captain Ajay Thakur has also been battling poor form for the last few PKL seasons. In the 8th season, he was a part of Dabang Delhi but got separated from the team in the middle of the season. There were reports that all was not well between him and the team. He played only five matches for Dabang Delhi in which he could get only five points. The seventh season was equally disappointing for him. Given his lack of consistency, he could go unsold during the IPL auctions as teams could rely on young players at his place.

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