PKL 11: Jaipur Pink Panthers' predicted starting 7

Jaipur Pink Panthers have reshuffled their squad for season 11 of the Pro Kabaddi League. The inaugural champions has an impressive season last year and has retained their core for the upcoming season. Surprisingly they released a few key players with a view to building a strong squad. But as Auction dynamics has its play, the Pink Panthers with a limited purse couldn’t call the shots in the Auction.

The surprise release lists start with their skipper Sunil Kumar who played a key part in their title triumph in season nine. More than being a leader, he was crucial to their defensive fort protecting the cover region. The Sanjeev Baliyan-coached side have got the experienced Surjeet Singh in place of Sunil. The Panthers have also seen a personnel change in their secondary raiders who will be supporting Arjun Deshwal.

Let’s analyse the squad of the Jaipur Pink Panthers and see who will be starting seven for their first game.

Raiding Rampage Awaits

Arjun Deshwal has been one of the consistent raiders in the last few seasons. His advent into the Panthers line-up has changed the outlook of the side. With two finals in the last three years, the inaugural champions has been a force and will continue to do so in the upcoming season. While Arjun was supported by Ajith Kumar and Bhavani Rajput last season, the men in pink will have new people.

The Auction saw them hire the agile Vikas Kandola and strongly-built Shrikant Jadhav for raiding duties. It is a great move considering both are primarily left-raiders and can complement Arjun who will be attacking from the right. The owner of the side, Abhishek Bachchan was happy to get the experienced Neeraj Narwal who can come into the line-up at any stage of the game.

Strong Defensive fort, but can be breached

The retention of Ankush Rathee, the season nine’s best defender and Iranian powerhouse Reza Mirbagheri was not a surprise. But letting of Sunil Kumar and Sahul Kumar has left the fans a bit worried about the defense. They will be happy to see Surjeet Singh, the most successful Indian defender in the history of PKL in the Panthers’ colors.

The slot left vacant by Sahul Kumar will be the focal point when the men in Pink run into the PKL arena. The auction presented many choices like Krishan Dhull, Shubham Shinde, and Nitesh Kumar but Panthers couldn’t nail any of the big names. The two-time champions have entrusted the young Lucky Sharma, who has been with Jaipur in the last two seasons scoring 21 points in 28 games. Sanjeev Baliyan will have to work his plans with Lucky to strengthen the defense.

Jaipur Pink Panthers’ predicted starting seven for PKL 11:

Raiders – Arjun Deshwal, Vikas Kandola and Shrikant Jadhav

Defenders – Lucky Sharma (Right Corner), Ankush (Left Corner), Surjeet Singh (Right Cover), and Reza Mirbagheri (Left Cover).

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