PKL 2019 | 5Ws and 1H – Tamil Thalaivas
PKL
Tamil Nadu is considered as the place where the sport of Kabaddi originated long back. Come the present day, the team from the state – Tamil Thalaivas is having a tough time in the prestigious Pro Kabaddi League as they finished at the bottom of the Zone B points table in their first two seasons.
How they performed in the previous season?
As written in the intro, the Ajay Thakur-led side had a terrible time on the mat throughout the sixth season of the league. The team had some greats of the game like Thakur himself and Manjeet Chhillar along with an experienced Jasvir Singh but things didn’t fall in place for the team from Chennai and they had to end the tournament with 42 points from 22 games. The team could register only five wins in the entire three-month long tournament. Thakur was the only player who had proved his worth and performed as per expectation while all others faded out in due course of PKL 6.
Who are the star players for the Thalaivas?
The list of the star attractions of the Thaliavas in the previous season included Thakur, Manjeet, Jasvir among others. Now in 2019, they will have the services of Chaudhari and Mohit Chhillar as well. Like all the previous seasons of the league, Thakur, who had scored a whopping 203 raid points last time, will be the player to watch out for in the Thaliavas camp.Â
On the other hand, Chaudhari, one of the finest raiders in the history of the league with 825 points, will have to look forward to come out of the poor run that he had last time around to make sure that he is back with a bang this time around. Manjeet and Mohit are the other two experienced players in the team. The seniors are the players to look forward to if you are a Tamil Thalaivas fan in PKL 2019.
Tamil Thalaivas squad:
Ajay Thakur, Manjeet Chhillar, Victor Onyango Obiero, Himanshu, M. Abhishek, Rahul Chaudhari, Ran Singh, Mohit Chhillar, Ajeeth, Milad Sheibak, Shabeer Bapu, Yashwant Bishnoi, Vineet Sharma, Anand, Parthiban, V Ajit Kumar,
SportsCafe’s starting 7:
Centre – Victor Onyango Obiero
Right in – Ajay Thakur
Left in – Rahul Chaudhari
Left corner – Ran SinghÂ
Right corner – Mohit Chhillar
Left cover – Manjeet Chhillar
Right cover – Ponparthivan Subramaniam
What is their strength?
Thakur will be relieved a bit with the presence of Chaudhari in the team in the seventh season of the league and that might be the biggest advantage for the side in the seventh season of the league. The combination of Chaudhari and Thakur will certainly create fear among the defenders of almost all opponents in the league and the Thalaivas will want to cash in on this.
In the defence, they will have some great experience with Manjeet and Mohit alongside Ran Singh who had a decent season with Bengal Warriors last year. Mohit’s inclusion, for 45 lakh rupees, is expected to come in as a big positive as they had a right corner in Amit Hooda who used to leak out points while going for poor tackles in the previous season. Â
Where can they fall behind from other teams?
By bringing in more number of experienced players also means that the Thalaivas also have more number of aged players as well. And, in a physical contact sport like Kabaddi remaining agile matters a lot and will be a factor for the players who are in the wrong side of their 30s. The three-month long season and the challenge of remaining fit throughout the entire tournament might be a concern for players like Thakur, Manjeet, and Ran in the tournament.
Again, the team does not have a proper third raider who can come in the rescue if there is an injury scare for any of the two world-class raiders that they have got. Some might argue that the team has got Shabeer Bapu with them but in the last couple of years, he has not done anything worth putting him at a higher pedestal and Kenyan Victor Onyango Obiero might get a nod ahead of the Kerala raider. Â
Why one should support Tamil Thalaivas?
Chennai is a place which has people crazy about different sports and the case is also the same for Kabaddi. The PKL is popular in this part of the country and the people here love their team – Tamil Thalaivas. Top names like Thakur and Chaudhari are crowd pullers and with them being in the side the Kabaddi lovers of the country have a good reason to support the team. Chaudhari is the “Raid Machine” and “Poster Boy of Kabaddi” and has a huge fan following of his own in the country. Chaudhari’s inclusion in Thalaivas unit might just prompt few of the Telugu Titans fans to change their preference in season 7 of the PKL.Â
When they will play their games?
The sixth edition of the league had started in Chennai last year but this time they will play their first game in Hyderabad on July 21 against the home team. The home leg of the Thalaivas will be played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai from August 17 this year.Â
Schedule:
July 21 vs Telugu Titans in Hyderabad
July 25 vs Dabang Delhi in Hyderabad
July 29 vs Patna Pirates in Mumbai
August 4 vs Haryana Steelers in Patna
August 7 vs UP Yoddha in Patna
August 10 vs Gujarat Fortunegiants in AhmedabadÂ
August 17 vs Bengaluru Bulls in Chennai
August 18 vs Puneri Paltan in Chennai
August 21 vs Jaipur Pink Panthers in Chennai
August 23 vs U Mumba in Chennai
August 29 vs Bengal Warriors in Delhi
September 1 vs Bengaluru Bulls in BengaluruÂ
September 2 vs Telugu Titans in Bengaluru
September 8 vs Dabang Delhi in Kolkata
September 9 vs Patna Pirates in Kolkata
September 14 vs Haryana Steelers in Pune
September 18 vs Puneri Paltan in Pune
September 21 vs UP Yoddha in Jaipur
September 28 vs Gujarat Fortunegiants in Panchkula
September 30 vs U Mumba in Panchkula
October 7 vs Jaipur Pink Panthers in Greater Noida
October 9 vs Bengal Warriors in Greater NoidaÂ
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