PKL Auctions | What clicked and what didn’t – Telugu Titans
Having a strong and balanced team in the sixth edition of the PKL didn’t help the Telugu Titans and they even couldn’t manage to enter the play-offs last year. The franchise has tried to make a balanced side after the auction for the seventh season as well like all the previous ones.
Last season’s performance
Telugu Titans had some of the best players in respective departments while starting their campaign last season in the Pro Kabaddi League. They had Rahul Chaudhari as the primary raider along with players like Abozar Mighani at the right corner of the defence. Vishal Bhardwaj, who has a reputation of doing well at the left corner, was handed over the responsibility of leading the side.
However, after making a steady start in the league last year, the Titans lost steam towards the end and had to bow out of the tournament from the league stage itself. Chaudhari failed to leave up to the expectation in the entire season while Nilesh Salunkhe’s attempt to step up was not enough for the team to go past teams like UP Yoddha and Bengal Warriors to finish in the top three of the Zone B points table last season.Â
With a total of 51 points from 22 games, the team from the southern part of the country finished with 51 points from 22 games. They managed to win only eight games that could take them only up to the fifth place on the points table.Â
Positive takeaways from the auction
After getting rid of Chaudhari, the newly-appointed Titans coach Gholamreza Mazandarani went all out for Siddharth Desai during the auctions. Desai was a revelation under the former U Mumba coach last year and the Iranian ensured that the raider stays with him this year as well although for a different team. The raider from Kolhapur bagged the highest price at the auctions as he was picked up for Rs 1.45 crore and was clearly the most important purchase for the team.
After deciding not to retain Mighani and Bhardwaj in Elite Player Retention, the Titans used Final Bid Match (FBM) card effectively at the auctions to get the two corner defenders for 75 lakh and 60 lakh rupees respectively. The decision of having both of them in this season ensures that the team will have the deadly left corner combination again this year as well. They had retained Farhad Milaghardan, Krushna Madane and Armaan before the auctions and the Iranian will be of great help like the last year at the right cover position for the Titans this season as well. Bringing in left-side defender C Arun settles up their defensive unit as the former Tamil Thalaiva, who was bought for Rs 10 lakh, is expected to take up the left cover position in the team’s defence.Â
 © PKL​  Â
Threats for next season
In the seventh season, the biggest threat that the Titans would face is the absence of a proper second raider to support Desai in the squad. They might have to go with Armaan and Rajnish in the starting 7 to start the season. The squad is completely short of an experienced raider for the season and considering the fact that Desai was injury prone in the previous edition, it will be important for the coach to consider a back-up for him for the three-month long tournament. Lack of a balanced raiding unit will put additional pressure on the defence which looks very strong on the paper ahead of the start of the season this year.
Telugu Titans Squad
Armaan, Farhad Rahimi Milaghardan, Krushna Madane, Manish, Akash Choudhary, Siddharth Desai, Abozar Mighani, Vishal Bhardwaj, Duet Jennings, Amit Kumar, C Arun, Suraj Desai, Suraj Kumar, Sombir, Mula Siva Ganesh Reddy, Rakesh GowdaÂ
SportsCafe’s starting 7
Centre – Siddharth Desai
Left in – ArmaanÂ
Right in – Rajnish
Left corner – Vishal BhardwajÂ
Right corner – Abozar Mighani
Left cover – C Arun
Right cover – Farhad Milaghardan
