PKL Season 4 winners - Where are they now?
PKL 4 was a special season for the Patna Pirates. The Patna-based franchise became the first team in Pro Kabaddi League history to win two championships. They entered the competition as the defending champions and successfully defended their crown.
The fourth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League was the last one to feature eight teams. Patna Pirates and Jaipur Pink Panthers made it to the finals, where Pardeep Narwal's 16 points helped the Pirates defeat the Pink Panthers by 37-29.
Pro Kabaddi 2023 is about to get underway soon, and before the new season starts, here's a look at the PKL Season 4 winners and where they are now.
Raiders: Pardeep Narwal, Rajesh Mondal, Mahesh Goud, Abolfazl Maghsoudlou, Sunny, Surjeet Singh, and Vinoth Paulyas
Patna Pirates picked seven raiders in their PKL 4 squad. The biggest name was Pardeep Narwal, who came into the limelight after his excellent performance in season three.
Patna retained Pardeep for season four, and the record-breaker delivered once again by scoring 131 raid points in 16 matches.
Narwal received fine support from do-or-die raid specialist Rajesh Mondal, who earned 57 raid points in 16 matches. The third-highest raid point scorer for the Pirates was Surjeet Singh, who finished with 33 raid points in 10 matches.
Iranian raider Abolfazl Maghosoudlou chipped in with 25 raid points in nine games, while the other raiders majorly warmed the benches for the Pirates.
Out of the seven raiders, only Pardeep Narwal will play in Pro Kabaddi 2023. He is the captain of the UP Yoddhas team. Mondal played his last season in 2018 for Puneri Paltan, while Surjeet last turned up for a PKL team in 2018 during his stint with the Tamil Thalaivas.
Abolfazl played his last season for the Gujarat Giants in 2019. Mahesh Goud last turned up for the Bengal Warriors in 2018, whereas Sunny and Vinoth Paulyas did not play in Pro Kabaddi after winning the title with the Patna Pirates.
Defenders: Dharamraj Cheralathan, Sunil Kumar, Vijin Thangadurai, Anil Kumar, Bajirao Hodage, Deepak Dhull, Fazel Atrachali, and Hadi Oshtorak
The Patna Pirates squad featured eight defenders in PKL 4. The biggest names present in the defense were Dharamraj Cheralathan and Fazel Atrachali.
Dharamraj was the captain of the team. He earned 39 tackle points that season. Atrachali finished as the number one defender, with 52 tackle points to his name.
Bajirao Hodage was quite impressive as a cover defender. He earned 22 tackle points in 14 matches.
Cheralathan played his last season for the Jaipur Pink Panthers in 2021. Meanwhile, Atrachali is currently the most successful defender of all time in Pro Kabaddi League history.
He earned a contract worth ₹1.6 crore from the Gujarat Giants at the recently concluded PKL Auction 2023.
Hodage's last PKL appearance came for Jaipur in 2018. Sunil Kumar, who made his PKL debut for Patna Pirates in season four, ended up leading Jaipur to the championship in the 2022–23 season.
Right cover defender Vijin Thangadurai played for the Gujarat Giants last season, but he does not have a contract for the upcoming season yet.
Left cover defender Anil Kumar was with Dabang Delhi KC in season nine, and Hadi Oshtorak last played for Gujarat Giants in season eight.
Deepak Dhull played the last match of his PKL career for Patna in season four. The defender failed to score any points in that game.
All-rounders: Kuldeep Singh and Sanjay Kumar
Patna Pirates had a fantastic all-rounder named Kuldeep Singh in their PKL 4 squad. Singh stole the show by scoring 36 tackle points for the team.
He moved to U Mumba in season five before returning to Patna Pirates in season six, which proved to be the last season of his career.
Sanjay Kumar was the second all-rounder present in Patna's squad. He played only a solitary match, in which he failed to earn any points. Kumar never played in Pro Kabaddi after that.