PKL 2019, Season Review: Telugu Titans
After finishing at the penultimate position in Season 6 of Pro Kabaddi League, Telugu Titans made some big purchases in the Season 7 auction. The biggest of them all was Siddharth Desai, nicknamed 'The Beast' or ‘The Bahubali’.
Desai was the highlight of PKL 6 and this season, fans had even bigger hopes from this impressive talent.
The Titans also strengthened their two corners after securing the services of Vishal Bhardwaj and Abozar Mighani. The former’s fearless approach combined with the latter’s lethal ankle holds made this defense look pretty formidable at the start.
The team had an even number of young and experienced starters and looked good enough at the start.
But the season had other ideas for them. Here is a brief review of their story in Season 7.
Key Stats
Played: 22 | Won: 6 | Lost: 13 | Tie: 3 | Total: 45 - Finished 11th
Total points scored: 725
Total points conceded: 792
Raid points: 436
Tackle points: 224
All-outs conceded: 33
Overall win percentage: 27%
What worked?
Siddharth Desai was the face of this team. And he did not disappoint. He finished the season with 220 points, ten Super 10s and an average of 9.86. Also, he had a magnificent not-out rate of 72% with 65% of his raids being successful.
It would not be wrong if we say that Desai single-handedly carried the weight of this team’s offensive unit for most part of the season. The best part about Desai’s performance is his core strength. He can wipe off defenders with his brute force and that helps him produce a large number of multi-point raids.
Another positive product of this season would be Rakesh Gowda. The young, skinny all-rounder punched way above his weight and chipped in with crucial points in many matches.
What did not work?
The two corners of the team lacked coordination. Vishal Bhardwaj and Abozar Mighani had a decent individual tally of 63 and 40 points respectively. But the Titans managed only 200 successful tackles. That is also the 3rd lowest total of the season.
Too many advance tackles attempted by their defense resulted in the leakage of points.
Suraj Desai, who was roped in as an assisting raider, scored a record 18 points in his debut match but soon faded away. He looked like a one-match wonder and failed to provide enough support in the attack.
This team left much of its work on Siddharth Desai's shoulders and their defense often failed to revive their lead raider in time.
Going forward
Telugu Titans would surely want to add a quality assisting raider to their side, someone who shares the workload with the strike raider. Having said that, Rajnish Dalal looked decent in the handful number of matches he featured in. The Titans may look to groom him.
Their all-rounders Farhad Milaghardan and C Arun were close to average and the Titans may want to add a more reliable player in that position. Also, the corner combination of Vishal and Abozar did not impress and we might see a change there.
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