Pro Kabaddi 2019: 3 reasons why the Puneri Paltan could win the title
The Vivo Pro Kabaddi 2019 will commence at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad as the hosts Telugu Titans will lock horns with season 2 champions U Mumba in the opening match of the competition.
The Puneri Paltan, one of the franchises which are yet to win a Pro Kabaddi title have a strong squad for PKL 7 and will be led by ace cover defender Surjeet Singh while veteran Indian kabaddi player and Arjuna Awardee Anup Kumar will be playing a role as the team's coach for season 7.
Puneri Paltan signed 16 players for PKL 7. Manjeet, Darshan Kadian, Pawan Kumar Kadian are some of the youngsters who will be a part of the Paltan. They also re-signed Girish Ernak, PO Surjeet Singh and Nitin Tomar.
The Puneri Paltan are set to play their first league stage match against the Haryana Steelers on 22nd July 2019. The home leg of the Paltan will start on 14th September 2019 and will culminate on 20th September 2019 at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune.
Here is a look at the three reasons why the Puneri Paltan could win the title.
#3 Plethora of options in the raiding unit
Services player Nitin Tomar will be the lead raider for Puneri Paltan in Pro Kabaddi season 7. Along with Nitin Tomar, Manjeet, Darshan Kadian, Pawan Kumar Kadian, Amit Kumar, and Emad Sedaghat Nia are the other raiders in the squad which gives the Paltan squad an extra dimension.
Nitin Tomar has 377 raid points from 53 matches. The management will be hoping for his full fitness throughout the season. In the last PKL edition, he had to miss a number of matches due to injury. Young raider Manjeet, who had a blockbuster debut season with Patna Pirates could be the secondary raider of Puneri Paltan. He scored 87 raid points in 22 games for Patna Pirates last year.
Another raider is Darshan Kadian who was part of U Mumba in the last season. He scored 49 raid points in 14 matches, with a Super 10 to his name. Puneri Paltan might use him as a do-or-die raider. Apart from this, Pawan Kumar Kadian, Amit Kumar, and Iranian Emad Sedaghat Nia are the raiders who could get a chance in the starting seven of Puneri Paltan.