PKL 12: What could be Dabang Delhi's auction strategy?

Dabang Delhi have released all their star players before the PKL 12 auction.

The 11th edition of the Pro Kabaddi League was a fruitful season for Dabang Delhi, as they finished as semifinalists. Delhi had a strong squad last season, led by star raiders Naveen Kumar, popularly known as the “Naveen Express”, and Ashu Malik. Yogesh Dahiya has been their best defender for the last two seasons.

Ashu was the second-best raider of the season with 262 raid points, while Yogesh emerged as the fourth-best defender with 75 tackle points. However, the team relied too much on Ashu, Naveen, and Yogesh, and this over-reliance eventually led to their defeat in the semi-finals against Patna Pirates.

The PKL 12 auction will be held on May 31 and June 1. The retention list has already been announced, and in a surprising move, Dabang Delhi released almost their entire squad. Unlike other franchises that have retained their core players, Delhi have opted to retain only two New Young Players (NYPs): Mohit and Sandeep. They have also signed two new NYPs: Raman Singh and Anurag Deshwal.

With this bold decision, Delhi will rebuild their squad from scratch. However, this strategy offers a huge advantage; Delhi have the biggest purse out of all the franchises, and they can target any player in the auction.

Key areas to strengthen

Delhi must focus on having a reliable third raider and a good defence. Despite having Yogesh among the top five defenders last season, Delhi’s overall defensive performance was poor. They had the second-worst average tackle points among all teams. Yogesh was the lone consistent performer, carrying the entire defence. Delhi must focus on assembling a strong and reliable defensive unit this season.

Coming to the raiding department, Delhi lacked the presence of a support raider. With Ashu Malik single-handedly carrying Delhi’s raiding department, he received little to no support from the other raiders.

Naveen Kumar‘s injury also proved fatal for Delhi, as Naveen also failed to perform to his potential due to the injury. Vinay looked good in a few matches but failed to perform after that.

Also Read: PKL 12: List of players released, retained by Dabang Delhi ahead of auction

Players to target

With several quality defenders in the auction pool, Delhi could target top names like Mohammadreza Shadloui, last season’s MVP. They can also use the Final Bid Match (FBM) card to buy back Yogesh Dahiya. The other players they can target are Ankit Jaglan and Nitin Rawal.

Both Ankit and Nitin performed for their respective franchises last season and were the best defenders for their franchises as well. If they fail to buy back Yogesh Dahiya, they can also target Jaipur Pink Panthers’ left corner Ankush Rathee

With almost all the top raiders in the auction, Delhi will look to get two strong raiders and decent backup raiders as well. Some raiders whom Delhi can target are Devank Dalal, Nitin Dhankar, Vijay Malik, and Arjun Deshwal. They can even use FBM on Naveen or Ashu.

Devank was the leading raider last season, and they can easily buy him if they want. Delhi could also target Vijay Malik, who performed brilliantly in Season 8 when Delhi won their maiden PKL title.

Conclusion

Dabang Delhi have taken a bold decision by releasing most of the players from their squad, but with the highest amount, they have a golden opportunity to build a balanced team. If they can solve the problems in defence and get proper raiding support, they can once again be strong contenders in PKL 12.

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