Pro Kabaddi 2019: 3 changes Telugu Titans need to implement to turn their season around
Telugu Titans’ PKL 2019 campaign has got off to one of the worst starts in the team’s history as the Hyderabad-based franchise could not register a single win in their home leg. Despite having a strong side, the Titans faltered in all the 4 home matches they played, leaving the home fans disappointed.
The raiding attack of Telugu Titans appeared to be overdependent on Siddharth Desai. However, his cousin brother, Suraj tried to ensure Siddharth does not have to fight like a lone warrior.
Though the Titans have lost their first 4 matches, they still have 18 more matches to play. With the new format allowing 6 teams to qualify for the 2nd round, Telugu Titans still have a strong chance of progressing to the playoffs. They need to tinker their playing seven a bit besides changing some strategies as well.
So, here are the 3 changes that Telugu Titans need to make to get back to winning ways:
#3 Play Rajnish as the third raider
If one has a closer look at the best raiding attacks of the tournament like Patna Pirates (Pardeep Narwal, Mohammad Esmaeil and Jang Kun Lee), Tamil Thalaivas (Ajay Thakur, Rahul Chaudhari and Shabeer Bappu), Bengal Warriors (Maninder Singh, Mohammad Nabibakhsh and K. Prapanjan), all the three raiding units have three raiders each.
Not all raiders manage to bring the same quality to the table but they do indeed give the much-needed stability to the team balance. Telugu Titans initially planned to use Siddharth Desai as their first raider and Rajnish as his partner. When Desai failed in the first game, Rajnish scored 7 raid points for his team. Even in the next game, Rajnish finished with 4 points.
However, when the management decided to play Suraj Desai in place of Rajnish and Suraj did well, they dropped Rajnish from the team. The team management preferred the likes of Palle Mallikarjun and Armaan ahead of Rajnish. It was not that Rajnish got injured; he was in the list of substitutes yet Titans did not use him.
If Telugu Titans want to win, they need to have an established three-dimensional raiding attack featuring Siddharth Desai, Suraj Desai and Rajnish.