PKL 11: Top 10 retained players before auction

A lot of young players have been retained by various franchises for PKL 11.

The much-awaited Pro Kabaddi League season 11 Player Auction is set to take place in Mumbai on August 15 and 16, 2024. After reports of the Pro Kabaddi League returning to its traditional window of July-September, there was no news regarding the league. Mashal Sports which played a huge role in the initiation of the league and its conduct for the first decade, parted ways.

The agreement between them and the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India came to an end they decided not to extend the partnership. The delay in deciding on the new partner resulted in the delay. Mashal Sports has announced the dates of the PKL auction during the middle of August. The Auction is the first step towards building a successful team.

Every team will have different strategies based on the coach. The strategies are built around a core that every franchise has retained before the Auction. Let’s take a look at the top 10 players who have been retained ahead of the PKL 11 Auction.

10. Rinku

Once a dominant force in the league, U Mumba hasn’t been able to recreate their success in the last few years. With Afghan coach Gholamreza Mazandarani at the helm of affairs, he has retained only Rinku as part of the defense and letting go of the likes of Mahender Singh, Surinder Singh, and Girish Ernak. They will depend on the Auction to restructure their side with Rinku’s experience in handling the defensive duties.

9. Jaideep Dahiya

The Haryana Steelers produced their best-ever performance as they qualified for the finals for the first time. One of the pioneers during the journey was Jaideep Dahiya who dashed many raiders from left cover. He has been a Steeler for three years and in 2024 will witness Jaideep in the colors of blue and white. The coach Manpreet Singh, who was a raider himself realised the importance of a quality cover defender and retained him.

8. Ankush

Given Jaipur’s propensity to hold onto its core, Ankush will be donning the Pink Jersey in PKL 11. The left-corner defender exuded a confidence that very few players in this league could match. The young Panther won the best defender award in his debut season in 2022 – 23. He will look to continue his partnership with Arjun Deshwal for the forthcoming season. The right raiders should be aware of Ankush when they take on Jaipur during season 11.

7. Mohit Goyat

Mohit Goyat was yet another important cog that helped Pune win their maiden title. Coach BC Ramesh has entrusted the raider who has been with the franchise for three years with 100+ points in each season. Mohit has had a great run in the last six months having won the Pro Kabaddi League and the Senior National Championship. He will be representing the Paltans in season 11 and will be gunning to lift another title.

6. Narender Kandola

Despite being the origin of Kabaddi, the Tamil Nadu-based franchise, Tamil Thalaivas never got into the playoffs until this man came onto the scene. Narender was a sensation in season nine taking Thalaivas to their first-ever playoffs and was named as the Best Young Player 2022 – 23 season. He improved his Raid strike rate last season and with the return of Udaya Kumar as coach, the men in yellow will depend on Narender to deliver goods for them.

5. Gaurav Khatri

If Aslam Inamdar is for raiding duties, the defense of the defending champions, Puneri Paltans will be guarded by Gaurav Khatri. The right corner has been with Puneri since the start of his career and will have another year. Gaurav was seen as an obstacle for the raiders who dared to get bonused under him. It will be interesting to see if the Paltans buy back his partner from the left corner Mohammadreza Shadloui from the Auction.

4. Aslam Inamdar

Aslam Inamdar, the captain of Puneri Paltan has been retained by the defending champions. The 24-year-old was one of the finest all-rounders last season with 26 tackle points and 142 raid points. He was exceptional as a leader as he never let complacency set in a season where they dominated throughout.

The Most Valuable Player of Season 10 would want to repeat the feat for the men in orange. Their Auction strategy will be one to watch out for as they have retained the most number of players.

3. Ashu Malik

Naveen will continue to have Ashu Malik’s services as the season 10s best raider will again with Delhi. It was Ashu who took them to the playoffs in PKL 10 after Naveen’s injury. Joginder Narwal saw Ashu Malik stepping up not only as a raider but also taking up the role of captaincy to manage the troops on the mat.

It won’t be a surprise if Ashu steps up for the toss over Naveen, nevertheless, he will be an important cog in the wheel of the season eight champions.

2. Naveen Kumar

Dabang Delhi is one of the franchises with the highest number of retentions in the Elite Retained Players list. On the top is the Naveen Kumar Goyat whose previous season was terminated after just six games due to an unfortunate injury. He dominated the proceedings till then and it was the Naveen Express that took them to the crown in season eight. With Joginder Narwal at the helm now, he has retained Naveen to lead the team.

1. Arjun Deshwal

It is an open secret that Jaipur Pink Panthers will retain Arjun Deshwal ahead of PKL 11. Arjun played a huge role when the Pink Panthers won the championship in the ninth season. He was dubbed “The Raid Machine” and was tasked to handle scoring during their championship defense. With 276 raid points and 17 Super 10s in PKL 10, he took the team to the last four. Having been destroying the defense of the opposition for years, Abhishek Bachchan & Co have retained their best raider.

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