Pro Kabaddi 2022: Best foreign playing 7 of the season
The 2022 Pro Kabaddi League season ended last Friday with a match between Dabang Delhi KC and Patna Pirates. Delhi ended their championship drought with a one-point win over the Patna-based franchise in the final.
The Delhi-based franchise majorly relied on their squad's Indian players. However, most of the other teams had quite a few overseas stars who stole the show in Pro Kabaddi 2022.
Now that the PKL 8 tournament has ended, here's a playing seven comprising the top overseas performers of the season.
Center - Mohammad Taghi Paein Mahali
Mohammad Taghi Paein Mahali found it challenging to receive a spot in the playing seven because UP Yoddha had raiders like Pardeep Narwal, Surender Gill and Shrikant Jadhav in the squad.
Still, the Iranian raider got to play in seven matches, scoring 13 points. His super raid against the Haryana Steelers was one of the top moments of the season.
Right Cover - Mohsen Maghsoudlou
Iranian all-rounder Mohsen Maghsoudlou had a decent number of opportunities to play for U Mumba in Pro Kabaddi 2022. The rising star earned 23 points in 11 matches, with 12 of them coming in the raiding department.
Maghsoudlou could not set the season on fire, but he would have gained a lot of experience playing with the likes of Abhishek Singh and Fazel Atrachali.
Left Cover - Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh
Mohammad Nabibakhsh played a vital role in the Bengal Warriors' championship win last season. However, the Iranian all-rounder could not continue in the same vein this year.
He did score 89 raid points and 19 tackle points in Pro Kabaddi 2022, but fans had higher expectations from him.
Right In - Dong Geon Lee
Korean raider Dong Geon Lee impressed whenever he got a chance to raid for the Bengaluru Bulls. He pulled off a match-winning two-pointer raid during a game against the Bengal Warriors in the league stage.
Playing as a substitute, Lee scored 10 raid points in nine matches. He could have scored more had he received a place in the playing seven in a few matches.
Left In - Hadi Oshtorak
Hadi Oshtorak generally plays in the corner position, but there were other corner defenders who achieved more success than Hadi in Pro Kabaddi 2022. Oshtorak still managed to make the cut to this team because of his raiding skills.
Playing for the Gujarat Giants, the Iranian all-rounder scored 10 raid points and 18 tackle points this season, pulling off a couple of super tackles along the way.
Right Corner - Abozar Mighani
Abozar Mighani replaced Baldev Singh in the right corner position of the Bengal Warriors team. The Iranian defender did not have his best season, but was the best overseas right corner defender in PKL 8 with 43 tackle points.
Mighani executed three super tackles in Pro Kabaddi 2022 in addition to registering one High 5. He will be keen to improve his numbers in PKL 9.
Left Corner - Mohammadreza Chiyaneh
In previous seasons, Fazel Atrachali was the best overseas left corner defender, but Mohammadreza Chiyaneh replaced him at the top this year. Playing in his debut season, Chiyaneh took home the Best Defender of the Tournament award for his haul of 89 tackle points in 24 matches.
Chiyaneh's brilliance guided Patna Pirates to their fourth PKL final. Unfortunately, his team failed to cross the final hurdle.