Three teams who should change their head coach for PKL 12

A series of unfulfilled expectations may outweigh their wonderful experience.

Pro Kabaddi League Season 11 (PKL) concluded on 29 December, when Haryana Steelers lifted the trophy and became the new champion. This season turned out to be one of the most thrilling in the PKL’s history, with multiple teams having the chance of making it into the playoffs till the league’s last encounter. The ferocity tells us how high the level of play has become in this world-class league.

The coaches have a massive role in Kabaddi as the game needs quick thinking, re-strategizing and more, within those quick 40 minutes. This season, Manpreet Singh proved to be a spectacular guide for his franchise yet again and made sure they clinched the trophy this time. Where Singh had another fabulous season, a few franchises will have to re-think their strategy from the beginning.

Also Read: List of teams with most appearances in PKL finals

Here are the three teams who should change their head coach ahead of next season of the Pro Kabaddi League.

3. Prashant Surve (Bengal Warriorz)

Bengal Warriorz released their previous Head Coach, K. Baskaran before PKL 11, and promoted Prashant Surve, the then-assistant coach to the position of Head Coach. However, things didn’t go as they would have wanted. Surve took matters into his hands but couldn’t get the team to a better position.

The Warriorz have had a streak of poor results since they lifted the trophy in Season 7. They haven’t been able to qualify for the playoffs since. The question arises whether promoting Surve as head coach was a wrong decision. One might argue that it was as, despite having a strong squad, the Warriorz remained out of sync and couldn’t find the combination going throughout the season.

Even Fazel Atrachali, who was the most successful captain in the PKL before this season couldn’t get the Warriorz a good result. If the Warriorz needs to get a better result next season, they must re-think their strategy from the roots and search for a more experienced coach who would gel the team better for extracting positive results.

Also Read: Top 10 biggest talking points of Kabaddi in 2024

2. Udaya Kumar and Dharamaraj Cherelathan (Tamil Thalaivas)

Tamil Thalaivas started this season with a new strategy when they decided to go with two head coaches. Needless to say, it didn’t work well. The Thalaivas finished in the 9th position when they could have had so much better with that line-up. They elected the experienced coach, Udaya Kumar, as the chief coach and Dharamaraj Cheralathan as the strategy coach. Despite having two brilliant minds of Kabaddi, they failed to bring the results in their favor.

The Thalaivas even accumulated some big names like Sachin Tanwar and Narender Kandola in the auction but they also failed to perform well. What can be the reason for their failure this season? A couple of reasons were the injuries of their star players, however, one might also question if the new tactic of bringing in two coaches could be a reason.

Going into the next season, they might consider moving the traditional way and staying with the one-head coach theory to extract better results.

1. Randhir Singh Sehrawat (Bengaluru Bulls)

Arjuna Award recipient, Randhir Singh Sehrawat has been synonymous with the Bengaluru Bulls. He joined the Bulls at the inception of the Pro Kabaddi League and has been an integral part of the team ever since. 11 seasons have passed, and many players have joined and left but Sehrawat has stood strong and worked extremely hard to take the Bulls to the PKL trophy. However, he has only worked it out successfully once in season 6.

Especially in season 11, Sehrawat failed terribly from the beginning itself. He failed to gather a strong squad which led to a weak foundation and had no chance of turning it around later. It is high time that the Bulls’ management made a strict decision about where they want to see the franchise in the future. Despite all the work of the Arjuna awardee, the Bulls have not been able to shine with consistency. Season 11 was the worst season of all and it’s certainly a wake-up call for the Bulls’ management.

It will be interesting to see if the management sticks to these coaches and expects better results next season or if they make the necessary changes going into Season 12. What do you think these teams should do before PKL 12? Let us know in the comment section.

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