Analysing Telugu Titans squad ahead of PKL Season 8

Vishal Bhardwaj’s absence could hurt the team in the upcoming season.

The Pro Kabaddi League will soon be back in action after a long gap. The fans cannot wait to see their favourite kabaddi players represent their respective teams. The auction for the upcoming eighth season of the PKL took place recently. There was a lot of activity from the franchises who were busy bidding for their favourable targets. 

While some teams got the players they wanted according to their requirements, some teams missed out. Telugu Titans were one of the many teams who were busy during the auction, as they prepared for the upcoming season. The outfit are one of the teams that are yet to win the league and will be aiming to do so in future.

After the auction, one can analyze the strengths and weaknesses of all the teams. Similarly, Titans have their own strengths on which they will rely and weaknesses they will try to improve on. Here is a squad analysis of Telugu Titans for the forthcoming season of the Pro Kabaddi League:

Strengths

Strong raiders

The Telugu Titans have a strong attacking force in their team. Players like Siddharth Desai and Rohit Kumar are part of the raiding unit, who will be looking to score a lot of points for the team. Their arrival has made the attacking front of the team very strong ahead of the season.

Rohit Kumar comes into the team after the franchise paid ₹36 lakhs for the player during the auction. He has over 670 points in PKL history and comes with a lot of experience under his belt. He was the captain back when Bengaluru Bulls won the PKL, and hence the winning mentality will certainly help the Titans. Since making his debut in the third season, he has scored at least 100 points in every edition of the PKL. 

Siddharth Desai, on the other hand, will add to the firepower. The pair can bring lots of points and success to the team next season. Rakesh Gowda is also part of the team who will provide good cover. He was a good performer last season and will have high expectations from the fans next time. 

Surinder Singh's presence

Surinder Singh will represent Telugu Titans in the upcoming season of the PKL. He played for U Mumba last season and was one of their best performers. He was selected for the senior squad from their pool of young academy players.

He scored 58 tackle points in the fifth season for U Mumba, which was the highest that season for the team. Surinder Singh also assists well and became the first player in history to give 100 assists during the sixth season. 

Weakness

Vishal Bhardwaj’s absence

Vishal Bhardwaj was released by Telugu Titans ahead of the auction for the eighth season of the PKL. He was the captain of the franchise during the sixth season. Captaining a side at the age of 21 is impressive and he was a good performer in the left-corner too. Furthermore, Vishal is the first player to score more than 60 points in three consecutive seasons of the PKL as well. 

He scored 71 points in the fifth season and continued his impressive display in the sixth season. Bhardwaj followed it up with 62 tackle points during the seventh season. He is an ankle hold specialist and one of the best timers of a tackle. Telugu Titans could feel the pinch of not having his presence on the left-corner. This could be a major issue for the management to solve in the matches to come. 

Lack of consistency in defence

There are a lot of options in defence for Telugu Titans. However, these players lack a sense of consistency in their performances. Ruturaj Koravi, C. Arun, and Surinder Singh are some of the players who have not delivered good performances regularly.

Surinder Singh has been found to be too quick while going into tackles previously. Due to this tendency of diving in a little too early, U Mumba had to suffer because of bad decision-making from the player. Ruturaj Koravi has played 40 matches in the PKL but only managed 64 tackle points during that time. He needs to find a better run of games and deliver consistent performances in the upcoming season. 

Sandeep Kandola is participating in the PKL after a long gap. He will be under pressure which could in turn affect the player’s performance on the mat. After winning the best debutant during the second season of the PKL, he has not represented any team since. He was impressive during the Senior Nationals while playing for Services. But, repeating those performances at a bigger stage like the PKL could be a challenge for Kandola. 

No all-rounders

One of the most glaring weaknesses in the Telugu Titans squad is the lack of all-rounders. Each team has at least two to three all-rounders in their roster for balance. It is a big gamble on part of the management to go into the next edition without a single all-rounder. 

Team

Raiders: Amit Chauhan, Ankit Beniwal, Galla Raju, Hyunsu Park, Rajnish, Rakesh Gowda, Rohit Kumar, Siddhart Desai.

Defenders: Aakash Dattu Arsul, Akash Choudhary, Manish, Adarsh T, C. Arun, Prince D, Ruturaj Koravi, Surinder Singh, Tetsuro Abe, Sandeep Kandola

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