PKL Season 9 winners - Where are they now?
Jaipur Pink Panthers emerged as the champions of PKL Season 9. The Pink Panthers defeated Puneri Paltan in the final to win their second Pro Kabaddi League title. It was the first time in eight seasons that Jaipur won the championship.
Sunil Kumar captained the team. The cover defender led the Jaipur-based franchise from the front by scoring 64 tackle points in 23 matches. Raider Arjun Deshwal was the top performer in the raiding unit, earning 296 raid points for the team.
Jaipur Pink Panthers will begin their Pro Kabaddi title defense on December 4 against Puneri Paltan. Before the big game in Ahmedabad, here's a look at Jaipur's PKL Season 9 and where the players are now.
Raiders - Arjun Deshwal, V Ajith Kumar, Rahul Chaudhari, Devank, Bhavani Rajput and Navneet
Jaipur Pink Panthers' PKL Season 9 squad featured six raiders. Arjun Deshwal led the raid attack and received excellent support from V Ajith Kumar and Rahul Chaudhari. Kumar earned 100 raid points, and Chaudhari finished with 71 raid points.
The team management has retained all three raiders for the PKL Season 10. The Pink Panthers have also retained young raiders Devank, Bhavani Rajput and Navneet, who did not receive enough opportunities last season. They will be keen to perform well whenever the opportunity arrives.
Defenders - Sunil Kumar, Woosan Ko, Abhishek KS, Sahul Kumar, Deepak R, Ankush Rathee, Ashish, Reza Mirbhageri, Lucky Sharma, Nitin Chandel and Rahul Gorakh Dhanawade
Jaipur Pink Panthers stacked up their defense for the PKL Season 9 by roping in a total of 11 defenders. Sunil Kumar was the captain of the team. The Jaipur Pink Panthers splurged ₹90 lakh to sign him, and the decision proved to be a masterstroke as Kumar led the franchise to the championship.
Another brilliant decision made by the Jaipur-based franchise in PKL Season 9 was to sign Ankush Rathee in the New Young Player category. Playing his first PKL season, Ankush destroyed almost every raiding unit in the competition and finished with 89 tackle points. The left corner defender won the Best Defender award for his consistent performances.
Another Jaipur defender to finish in the top 10 of the leaderboard last season was Sahul Kumar. The right corner defender earned 56 tackle points in 24 matches of the previous season.
Unsurprisingly, Jaipur have retained the trio of Sunil Kumar, Sahul Kumar and Ankush Rathee. They have also retained Iranian defender Reza Mirbhageri, who earned 36 tackle points in his debut season for the Pink Panthers last season. Abhishek KS and Ashish have also received another contract.
Right cover defender Lavish and right corner defender Lucky Sharma were released by the Jaipur-based franchise before the PKL 10 Auction, but they re-signed both defenders at the auction.
Jaipur let go of Nitin Chandel, Woosan Ko, Deepak R, and Rahul Gorakh Dhanawade. Nitin received a contract worth ₹13 lakh from the Dabang Delhi KC franchise.
Interestingly, Jaipur did not have any all-rounders in their squad for PKL Season 9. They have followed the same strategy for PKL 10 and decided against signing any all-rounders.