Puneri Paltan's journey to become champions of PKL 10, Season Review

The ultimate champions played like favorites as they dominated throughout the season.

Puneri Paltan wanted to bring in new blood to the team, so they were well-prepared right from the auction of PKL 10. Their tactic was exemplified by the roping of Mohammadreza Chiyanneh in the Auction and the selection of Aslam Inamdar as skipper. They won 10 of their first 11 games, demonstrating their flawless play in the first half of the season. The margins of each game revealed how lopsided the victories were more so than the actual results.

With just two points in the four games, their cover defender Abinesh Nadarajan was susceptible to dashes. But BC Ramesh, the coach, gave him complete support. The opposition has been disturbed by Shadloui’s mere existence, as the Iranian ensured the Paltan ended in the top two along with the big corner defender Gaurav Khatri. Despite being beneath the radar, Pankaj Mohite and Mohit Goyat continued to contribute consistently to Raiding.

Let’s look at their top performers who helped them clinch the title.

Top Performers

Mohammadreza Chiyanneh

If domination had a name then one of its forms should be Mohammadreza Chiyanneh. He collected 99 tackle points in 24 games. If he had scored one more point, he would have tied Nitish Kumar’s record of 100 tackle points in a season. However, he broke more records as the player who reached 250 Tackle points was the quickest. Furthermore, he occasionally scored big scores in raids. Shadloui led Puneri Paltan’s defense with skill and went on to win the team championship.

Aslam Inamdar

Puneri Paltan skipper Aslam Inamdar was one of the lynchpins of their successful journey. He collected 142 raid points and 26 tackle points in 23 games this season. He did an excellent job leading aside from it. For his efforts as the captain and an all-around player, he was named the Most Valuable Player of the Season. Leading the squad in raid point scoring, he had a significant influence thanks to his collaboration with Shadloui.

Gaurav Khatri

If Shadloui was a showstopper in the left corner, he had a perfect partner in the other corner as Gaurav Khatri was stupendous as well scoring 69 Tackle points in 24 games. While the Iranian stole the limelight, Khatri wasn’t ruffled about the lack of it as he surreptitiously went about his business to form a formidable corner duo. If these two continue to play, they could become one of the most formidable corner duos in the history of PKL.

Special Mentions

Abinesh Nadarajan is one name the Kabaddi world will be hearing a lot in the years to come. The cover defender grew from strength to strength as his presence made the opponent Raiders think twice before going deep inside the mat. Pune’s Raiders might not have the superstar status yet they did their job as Pankai Mohite and Mohit Goyat played perfect fiddle to their skipper Aslam Inamdar.

Top Performances

Puneri Paltans 28 – 25 Haryana Steelers, The Finals

Telugu Titans 18 – 54 Puneri Paltans, Match 51

Puneri Paltans 37 – 33 Jaipur Pink Panthers, Match 5

Coach’s Report Card – BC Ramesh

On the penultimate day of the Chennai leg, the home team Tamil Thalaivas was not playing yet the fans were in full numbers as the day witnessed one of the best crowds of the season till then. Pune coasted to another dominating victory, and just when they were celebrating coach BC Ramesh asked the squad to do a lap of honor for Abinesh Nadarajan as his from Tamil Nadu.

In the press conference, he was of full praise of the cover defender and went on to say that Abinesh will play for team India one day. This shows how BCR as a coach knew every player in his squad and if the coach knew his players well he could give appropriate rules and bring the best out of them.

Lessons to be learned

Investing in young blood has always been the right strategy to succeed at any level and in an energy sport in Kabaddi where a player needs to be swifter as the game progresses. The men in orange understood the reality and they have been doing it for years now starting from season seven when they appointed Anup Kumar as the coach.

They roped in the likes of Aslam Inamdar, Pankaj Mohite, Mohit Goyat, and Sanket Sawant during seasons seven and eight. It paid dividends in seasons nine and ten where they finished runners-up and winners respectively. Teams will look to pick this up from Pune going into season 11.

Fan’s View

Puneri Paltan barely broke a sweat during the season, dominating every team in the league. They weren’t tested for their bench strength this season. Going into the next season, it will be hard to retain the squad as many of the first seven players might be highly sought after in the Auction. Puneri Paltan’s fans would like to see most of them being retained as they gear up for the title defense which is due in a few months.

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