PKL 12: Why is Nitin Dhankhar not in starting 7 against Patna Pirates in Eliminator 1?

Jaipur Pink Panthers are two-time PKL champions.

Jaipur Pink Panthers are facing Patna Pirates in Eliminator 1 of Pro Kabaddi League Season 12 (PKL 12) at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium in Delhi on Sunday, October 26.

Patna Pirates registered a 40-31 victory over U Mumba in the second play-in encounter to get through the next round of the competition. Raider Ayan was the standout performer with 14 points (12 touch points, one bonus point, and one raid point).

U Mumba’s Ajit Chouhan bagged 12 raid points, including eight touch points and four bonus points. However, all his efforts went in vain as the PKL Season 2 winners crashed out of PKL 12 in the play-in.

Jaipur Pink Panthers qualified for the Eliminator 1 after defeating defending champions Haryana Steelers 30-27 in Play-in 1 on Saturday.

Their raider, Nitin, was the star performer with seven raid points, including six touch points and one bonus point. Defenders Aryan Kumar and Deepanshu Khatri earned five and four points, respectively.

With the do-or-die clash between the two franchises, Nitin Dhankhar is not in the starting 7 for the Pink Panthers. On that note, let’s look at the reason behind this move.

Why is Nitin Dhankhar not included in the starting 7?

Jaipur Pink Panthers raider Nitin Dhankhar has not been included in the starting 7 for today’s important clash against the Patna Pirates due to fitness concerns. He suffered a minor injury in the previous game against the Steelers during a raid.

However, Nitin continued to play until the end of the match, but was seen struggling and limping a few times. He ended the game with seven raid points from 23 raids, including three unsuccessful raids and 13 empty raids.

The star raider has been named in the substitutes for the Eliminator 1 and might get a few minutes of game time whenever the need for his services arises.

Nitin has earned 155 points from 15 matches thus far in the ongoing edition of the Pro Kabaddi League. He averages 10.33 raid points per match from a total of 270 raids. The star player has four Super Raids and 10 Super 10s to his name this season.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Kabaddi on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.