PKL 12: Players Patna Pirates should retain for upcoming Pro Kabaddi season

Patna Pirates finished as runners-up in PKL season 11.

Three-time PKL champions Patna Pirates will head into Pro Kabaddi League season 12 with a new head coach at the helm. Runners-up last season, Patna have appointed the legendary Anup Kumar as their head coach for PKL 12 and former India captain will hope to lead Patna to a record fourth title, building up from the consistency of the last two seasons.

While they did fall short against Haryana Steelers in the final last season, Patna have a host of young talented stars and some big names to go the distance in PKL 12. In Anup Kumar, they also have a coach who has won the PKL title as a player and will bring his bucket of experience to the side.

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It will be interesting to see who they retain ahead of the next PKL season—especially with Anup Kumar, who likes to work with youngsters, in the head coach’s chair. In this article, we take a look at the players who should be retained.

Raiders Devank Dalal and Ayan Lohchab are must retentions

Patna’s success last year was built on the duo of Devank Dalal and Ayan Lohchab as the raiding pair ran through all the other teams.

Devank won the Best Raider award in PKL 11, and he went one better in the Senior Nationals, leading Services to the title—also winning the Best Player award along the way. His raiding partner, Ayan Lohchab won the New Young Player (NYP) award, and the attacking pair will again be in the green and yellow jersey, as they eye a fourth championship.

Alongside them, the likes of Sandeep Kumar and Sudhakar M, who were brilliant in season 10, will provide proper support in raiding.

Also Read: Players Haryana Steelers should retain for upcoming Pro Kabaddi season

Patna’s defensive trio will be key

Pirates’ journey to the finals was powered by their defending trio of Shubham Shinde, Ankit Jaglan, and Deepak Singh. Ankit made his debut in season 10 and was sensational in his debut season.

He should be retained along with captain Shubham Shinde, who had a fruitful return to the franchise after spending a couple of seasons with Bengal Warriorz. Deepak had a happy move from Gujarat Giants and his performances contributed big time to the franchise having a shot at the title.

Will Jang Kun Lee get another chance?

The likes of Gurdeep Sangwan, Meetu Sharma, Arkam Shaikh, and Jang Kun Lee are some of the tempting names for the franchises to retain. But Patna, with a tendency to invest in the youngsters, might let go of these players. They have already signed Milan Dahiya, Ankit Rana, Prianshu Lathwal, and Saurabh Narwal as NYPs, which shows the path Anup Kumar & Co. will take in their retention strategy.

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