PKL 2019 | Studs and duds of league so far ft. Naveen Kumar, Monu Goyat, and Abozar Mighani

PKL 2019 | Studs and duds of league so far ft. Naveen Kumar, Monu Goyat, and Abozar Mighani

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PKL

It is already more than 10 days in the PKL 2019 and we have seen some amazing action on the mat by the players of different sides. As the Mumbai leg is all set to resume after a day’s off, let’s take a look at the players who did well and who couldn’t live up to the expectation so far in the league.

Studs

Naveen Kumar, Raider, Dabang Delhi 

After stating his PKL career on a high in the sixth season of the league, the Dabang Delhi team had decided to keep him in the side for the seventh edition as well. Naveen Kumar has performed as his coach expected him to in the raiding department and took up the role of the team’s primary raider really well as he collected 31 raid points from the three matches that Delhi have played so far. With the support from Chandran Ranjit, he has looked really good in the raids and the Super 10 performance against Haryana Steelers goes on to prove his worth in the side.

Abhishek Singh, Raider, U Mumba

A lot of questions were raised on the U Mumba think tank when they had decided to go into the tournament without a primary raider. The decision was the same in the previous year but Siddharth Desai announced his arrival in season 6 with the Mumba unit. Meanwhile, this year, it is Abhishek Singh. After playing as a support raider for Desai in the last season, coach Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan had a lot of faith on Abhishek’s abilities and he has taken up the role and delivered for the team as well. From four matches in the league, Abhishek has collected 27 points so far with an average raid point of 6.75 per match.

Naveen, Raider, Haryana Steelers

With Vikash Kandola missing out in the first two games for Haryana Steelers, Rakesh Kumar had full faith on young Naveen to take up the responsibility. He has taken up the challenge really well and in two matches he has scored 21 total points against two strong defensive teams Puneri Paltan and Dabang Delhi KC. Against the Paltan, he led the teams raiding unit to ensure a win with 12 raid points in the game. On the other hand, against the Delhi team, he was the only positive takeaway for the Steelers as he went up against the likes of Joginder Narwal, Ravinder Pahal, and Vishal Mane and registered nine points and fell just one short off another Super 10. 

Baldev Singh, Defender, Bengal Warriors, 3-16

A lot of people might argue that Bengal Warriors are a good raiding unit this year but one can’t deny the fact that Baldev Singh has played his part well enough in the defence this season. With 16 tackle points from three games, the right corner defender has every reason to be classified as a stud. He has made things difficult for the raiders in all the three games against Puneri Paltan, Jaipur Pink Panthers and UP Yoddha. He has already got two High 5s and which is better than the entire season last year where he had only one. 

Duds

Vishal Bhardwaj, Defender, Telugu Titans

Things went terribly wrong for Telugu Titans in their home leg as they lost all their four games at the Gachibowli Stadiium, Hyderabad. On one side, their raiders led by Siddharth Desai failed to perform while on the other it was their defence which also had a bad outing at the home venue. Last year’s skipper and one of the top performers at the left corner Vishal Bhardwaj managed to score only 10 points from the four games which is one of the reasons for their poor show in the first few games.

Abozar Mighani, Defender, Telugu Titans

It was not only the left corner defender who will be held responsible for the team’s terrible start to the tournament. Their skipper and right corner defender from Iran Abozar Mighani was also pathetic in the first four games. His reckless tackle attempts against Dabang Delhi was a reason for their defeat by just one point against Joginder Narwal and co while scoring only five points from four games shows his constant bad performance in the first few matches. A tackle strike rate of 28.57% shows that he has been unsuccessful in restricting the opposition raiders in many occasions in the first four games and is also under some pressure of being the captain of the Titans.

Monu Goyat, Raider, UP Yoddha 

UP Yoddha have lost both their games in the season by big margins and they also stepped on to the mat without one of their senior players Rishank Devadiga. With the responsibility of being the top raiders of the team, Monu Goyat had two very bad games which affected the team’s performance as well. Against Bengal Warriors, he had collected only five raid points from 14 raids while this number went down further in the next outing against Gujarat Fortunegiants where he only got two bonus points and got tackled on four occasions out of eight total raids. Goyat has managed only seven points from two matches so far in the league.

Pardeep Narwal, Raider, Patna Pirates

When you talk about Patna Pirates, you talk about Pardeep Narwal. Although the team has done well with two wins from three games in the seventh season, the performance of their skipper hasn’t been up to the mark. Pardeep Narwal has only 18 points from three games which is way below his PKL career average of 9.95 per match. Pardeep had started off on a decent note in the first game against Bengaluru Bulls. I say decent because he took 23 raids to score 10 points. However, in the next two outings against Telugu Titans and Tamil Thalaivas, Pardeep was tackled five and six times respectively. Being the primary raider of the team, Pardeep failed to get points in Do or die raids time and again against the Titans which is a cause of concern for coach Ram Mehar Singh.

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