Review: Did injury to Siddharth Desai dent Telugu Titans in PKL 8?

The team finished at the bottom of the table this season.

The eighth season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is finally over. Dabang Delhi emerged as the title-winners this season. They won the title for the first time by defeating three-time champions Patna Pirates. On the other hand, the performance of the Telugu Titans was very poor. This would be something they would really like to forget as early as possible.

The Titans played a total of 22 matches, winning just one and losing 17. Four of their matches were also tied. Their star raider Siddharth Desai got injured early in the season and after that, the Titans could never make a comeback.

Here's what affected the team's performances this season.

Team’s negative aspects

The biggest setback for the Telugu Titans in PKL 8 was the unexpected early exit of Siddharth Desai, who was ruled out due to injury. Because of this, the team came under a lot of pressure. The impact of Desai's absence was quite visible on the team and no other player could perform well in the raiding unit.

Apart from this, captain Rohit Kumar also had a lot of ups and downs this season, leading to his poor performances. This is the reason why the team completely disintegrated during the league. In defence too, Surender Singh, Rituraj Koravi and T. Adarsh ​​had a faltering run. All these factors led to the Titans craving for a victory.

Positive aspects of the team

Although, this PKL season was not too good for the Telugu Titans, as they had more losses than wins, there were some positive points for them too. Players like Ankit Beniwal and Sandeep Kandola performed well. In difficult times, these players fought and led the team from the front. Star defender Sandeep Kandola scored 42 points.

Did team perform better than expected?

At times when veteran raiders like Siddharth Desai and Rohit Kumar made their way to the bench, Ankit Beniwal performed better than expected. He could not get his team to win in any match, but his own performances were promising. The raider scored 111 points in 21 matches in this PKL season. At the same time, young Rajneesh also proved himself by getting 106 points in 13 matches.

On the other hand, T. Adarsh also ​​showed a great game as an all-rounder. He scored 76 points in 21 matches. However, due to a lack of support from other players, the team couldn’t register any wins.

Which players performed below-par?

In PKL 8, the performances of legends like Rohit Kumar and Surender Singh were very disappointing. In total, Rohit Kumar played eight matches for Telugu Titans, in which he could only get 12 points. This is an abysmal record.

There were a lot of expectations from Surender Singh. However he couldn’t live up to them. He couldn't replicate the performances he had for U Mumba last seasons. Surender got frequent chances, but in 21 matches he could only manage to score 31 points.

What could be changes for next season?

This PKL season was very disappointing for the Telugu Titans. In such a situation, they should now focus on the next term. The team will have to strengthen its defence and attack. Players like Galla Raju, Ankit Beniwal, Rajneesh, T. Adarsh ​​and Sandeep Kandola should be retained.

However, the Titans need a star raider who will be available throughout the season. They cannot depend only on Siddharth Desai. At the same time, the defence also needs to be strengthened. Such players will have to be brought in the team who do not make advance tackles and go for attacks only after calling the raiders inside.

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