PKL 11 Season Review: Did Ram Meher Singh's overconfidence cost Gujarat Giants their season?

Gujarat Giants finished 11th in PKL 11.

Gujarat Giants have been one of the most consistent teams since joining the Pro Kabaddi League. However, this season didn’t go their way. Giants started this season with big hopes under the guidance of a champion coach, Ram Mehar Singh, and the leadership of Neeraj Kumar.

However, not much went their way. They struggled with the inconsistency of the players and their poor form, which resulted in the 11th place finish. Gujarat Giants finished PKL 11 in the 11th position with 5 wins, 14 losses, and 3 ties.

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Captain Guman Singh was one of their biggest buys. Although Singh ended the season with 159 raid points, he did not play with the consistency he was expected to and performed under par during many encounters. In addition, he did not get support from either Rakesh or Pratik Dahiya which made their raiding department exceptionally weaker.

Also Read: PKL 11 Season Review: Did Randhir Singh fail to buy right players for Bengaluru Bulls at auction?

On the contrary, the defence of the Gujarat Giants played much better. The defence was led by the retained players, Jitender Yadav and Balaji D. Although Balaji failed to perform well this season, Yadav proved to be one of the best-left corners. Himanshu was another defender who impressed everyone in his debut season at the right corner. Overall, the defence proved to be a mixed bag where some of them shined immaculately, while others let the team down.

On that note, let’s have a look at how the season unfolded for Gujarat Giants.

Top Performers

Jitender Yadav

Jitender Yadav was the standout performer for the Gujarat Giants this season. He scored 50 tackle points in 18 matches and kept the defence together throughout the season. Yadav will surely be one of the important members of the Giants in the upcoming seasons as well.

Himanshu

Himanshu played spectacularly in his debut season. Although he did not start as the Starting 7 member, the consistent failure of the experienced defenders got him the opportunity, and the young lad didn’t miss out. Himanshu scored 44 tackle points in 18 matches and was one of the positives this season for the Giants to take forward.

Also Read: PKL 11 Season Review: Did overspending on Sachin Tanwar cost Tamil Thalaivas their season?

Guman Singh

Guman Singh was included in the squad with some massive expectations. However, he did not exceed those, he delivered an average performance this season. Singh scored 159 raid points and was the only raider to cross the 100-point mark for them. It will be important for the team management to back him and hope for a better result in the next season.

Top Performances

Gujarat Giants 47-28 Bengal Warriorz

Gujarat Giants 36-32 Bengaluru Bulls

Gujarat Giants 31-28 Telugu Titans

Coach’s Report Card

Ram Mehar Singh was appointed the Gujarat Giants’ coach in Season 9 to repeat what he did with Patna Pirates in Season 5. However, he hasn’t been able to do so yet. Under his guidance, the Giants reached the eliminators last season but haven’t gone to par that, and this season turned out to be their worst of all.

Giants had a solid team on paper but failed terribly to convert it into a successful season. However, the team has found some positives this season. It will be interesting to see how they pursue the upcoming season. However, Gujarat released head coach Ram Mehar due to the team’s poor performance in PKL 11.

Lessons to be learned

This season taught the teams that every team needs a solid main raider to succeed. Defence is certainly a group performance, but raiding brings the majority of the points and the team without an in-form main and supporting raider will struggle any day.

The same happened with the Giants who had a solid defence but their Raiders let them down throughout the season. We will have to see if the Giants stick to the same raiding combinations or will they try to find new combinations going into the next season?

Fans’ View

Gujarat Giants fans did not have the season they expected. Although they were certainly pumped with their initial squad formation, things went downward as the top players failed to execute their moves. Going forward, they would expect better performances from their front raiders like their defenders did this year.

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