PKL 12: What could be Jaipur Pink Panthers' auction strategy?

Jaipur Pink Panthers have released their star raider Arjun Deshwal ahead of the PKL 12 auction.

Jaipur Pink Panthers had a decent outing at the 11th edition of the Pro Kabaddi League. They finished 6th in the points table and suffered a one-sided defeat to UP Yoddhas in the playoffs. The team was led by the star raider Arjun Deshwal, who was the MVP of the Jaipur team.

Arjun scored 227 points in 23 matches and was the third-best raider of the league. Jaipur relied too much on Arjun in the raiding department, and this over-reliance eventually led to their defeat in the playoffs. There was a significant gap between him and the second raider.

Neeraj Narwal was Jaipur’s second-best raider, but he managed only 74 raid points in 18 matches and could not provide enough support to Arjun.

Jaipur Pink Panthers‘ defensive unit was better than the raiding department, as both Ankush Rathee and Reza Mirbagheri impressed last season. Ankush scored 68 tackle points in 23 matches, while Reza scored 58 tackle points in 23 matches.

The retention list has already been announced, and to everyone’s surprise, Jaipur have released their best raider and defender of the last season. Both Arjun and Ankush will be part of the auction table. They have retained six players from their previous squad, including Reza Mirbagheri, Abhishek KS, Ronak Singh, Nitin Kumar, Sombir Mehra, and Ritik Sharma.

Also Read: PKL 12: List of players released, retained by Jaipur Pink Panthers ahead of auction

Key areas to strengthen

The biggest concern for Jaipur will be the raiding department, they would like to invest in raiders to rectify their problem from last season. Arjun Deshwal single-handedly handled the raiding department, with little or no support from other raiders. Now that they have released Arjun Deshwal, they will look to buy a good and consistent raider and also a support raider.

In the defence department, Jaipur have already retained two defenders and their aim will be to add strong backup during the auction. After releasing Ankush Rathee, they will be looking for a suitable replacement to strengthen their defensive unit.

Players to target

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

Devank Dalal and Ashu Malik will be the players in the limelight, and every team will bid for them in the auction. Jaipur can also play smartly by going for underrated raiders like Nitin Dhankar and Vijay Malik to build a decent raiding lineup.

In defence, Jaipur can target Yogesh Dahiya, Shubham Shinde, and Rinku Sharma as well. The other players they can target are Ankit Jaglan and Nitin Rawal. They can also use FBM to buy back Ankush.

Conclusion

Jaipur Pink Panthers have made a surprising decision by releasing their top raiders and defenders from last season. They will have to focus on improving their raiding department, as well as left corner and right cover in defence. If they can build a strong raiding unit, they could be strong contenders for the title this season.

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