PKL 11: Bengal Warriorz predicted starting 7

The balance of the team looks very good this time.

If there is a team that did extremely well in the 2024 Pro Kabaddi League auctions, then it is Bengal Warriorz. The season seven champions have rebranded themselves from Warriors to Warriorz. The team has also seen some massive changes to the line-up with the addition of some best in the business, especially on the defense front.

While it was an open secret that they will use FBM (Final Bid Match) card to buy back Maninder Singh, the surprise of the auction when they made a steal of a deal by recruiting Fazel Atrachali for just 50 lakhs. The Warriorz defense saw inclusion of two more quality Warriors in Nitesh Kumar and Mayur Kadam.

With a balanced squad, the Bengal-based franchise will be one of the primary challengers for the PKL 11 season.

Retained raiders with a surprise pick

Bengal Warriorz have been synonymous with Maninder Singh since season five. He is the second-most successful raider in PKL history with 1111 points. Out of which 974 have come for Bengal Warriorz. It was not brainer that the team would retain him irrespective of the bidding amount much like they did last season when they spend 2.12 cr, the highest-ever for a FBM buy.

PKL 2019 champions retained the likes of Nitin Dhankar and Vishwas Gowda as they duo did the job of secondary raiders to perfection. The trio will be hoping to make it big in their second season together. The eyebrow raising moment of the auction was when Bengal spend 41 lakhs for a young raider Arjun Rathi who is expected to make big waves. Their overseas import Chai-Ming Chang will also be one to look out for.

Defense – A warrior fort

Bengal always have had strong defensive names in their line-up. The likes of Nilesh Shinde, Girish Ernak, Surjeet Singh, and Ran Singh has been part of the esteemed franchise. But season 10 saw their defense lack teeth as they weren’t threatening enough for the opposition raiders. The solution to the problem was sealed when the hammer went down at 50 lakhs for the buy of Fazel Atrachali.

With the most successful defender in PKL history in the left corner, they snapped Nitesh Kumar for the right corner position, who is the first defender to score 100 points in a season. The cover positions will be continuation of Vaibhav Garje and Shreyas Umbardand. The new head coach Prasanth Surve will have more options with the likes of Mayur Kadam and Aditya Shinde to provide support them and be a challenger to the title.

Bengal Warriorz predicted starting seven for PKL 11:

Raiders – Maninder Singh, Nitin Kumar and Vishwas Gowda

Defenders – Nitesh Kumar (Right Corner), Fazel Atrachali (Left Corner), Vaibhav Garje (Right Cover) and Shreyas Umbardand (Left Cover).

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