Pro Kabaddi 2022: A playing 7 of star players who disappointed the most in league stage
The league stage of Pro Kabaddi 2022 culminated on Saturday evening with a clash between the Patna Pirates and the Bengal Warriors. Both teams rested their main players for this match as they had already been knocked out of the tournament. Patna ended the league stage on a winning note with a nine-point victory against Bengal.
The playoffs round of Pro Kabaddi 2022 will start tomorrow evening in Mumbai. Former champions Bengaluru Bulls will take on defending champions Dabang Delhi KC in Eliminator 1, which will be followed by the UP Yoddhas vs. Tamil Thalaivas clash in Eliminator 2. The winners of these two matches will face Jaipur Pink Panthers and Puneri Paltan in the Semifinals 1 and 2, respectively.
In the league stage, 132 matches took place in three different cities over the last few weeks. Several big names of the kabaddi world were in action in the Pro Kabaddi 2022 league round. A majority of them impressed fans with their performances, but a few of them let the kabaddi universe down by failing to perform well.
Now that the league stage of the Pro Kabaddi 2022 has ended, here is a playing seven of kabaddi stars who disappointed their fans the most.
Raiders - Vikash Kandola, Deepak Hooda and Abhishek Singh
Generally, a fan would expect the names of Vikash Kandola, Deepak Hooda and Abhishek Singh to be present in the top 10 of the raiders' leaderboard. However, they are not even present in the top 20 of the Pro Kabaddi 2022 Most Raid Points list.
Bengaluru Bulls had high hopes from Vikash when they splurged ₹1.7 crore for his services at the Pro Kabaddi 2022 auction. The raider has failed to justify his enormous price tag so far, scoring only 117 raid points in 22 matches. His teammate Bharat Hooda has registered more than double the raid points scored by him.
Abhishek Singh moved from U Mumba to Telugu Titans this season. He scored only 56 raid points in 16 matches and finished 32nd on the raiders' leaderboard. Bengal Warriors star Deepak Hooda had a forgettable season as well, as he earned 47 raid points in 17 games.
Defenders - Nitesh Kumar, Neeraj Kumar, Surender Nada and Sajin C
Patna Pirates' cover defenders Neeraj Kumar and Sajin C will form the cover combination of this team. Both the defenders had disappointing seasons. Kumar, who once held the record for the Most Tackle Points in a Pro Kabaddi match, finished PKL 9 with only 29 points to his name. His left cover partner Sajin C earned a total of 10 tackle points in 13 matches.
The two corner defenders of this team will be Bengal Warriors' Surender Nada and UP Yoddhas' Nitesh Kumar. Surender is 69th on the leaderboard with 11 tackle points from 10 matches. A few raiders have scored more tackle points than the veteran defender.
Meanwhile, Nitesh failed to replicate his past heroics for UP Yoddhas. He has earned 32 tackle points from 21 matches. It will be interesting to see if he can improve his performance in the playoffs.
Playing 7 of Pro Kabaddi 2022 stars who disappointed the most
Deepak Hooda (Center), Vikash Kandola (Right In), Abhishek Singh (Left In), Nitesh Kumar (Right Corner), Neeraj Kumar (Captain and Right Cover), Surender Nada (Left Corner), Sajin C (Left Cover).