Pro Kabaddi 2023: 5 Haryana Steelers players to watch out for in PKL 10 ft. Siddharth Desai and Chandran Ranjit
Haryana Steelers came close to making the playoffs in PKL 9, narrowly missing out. They finished seventh in the league stage with 10 wins and 61 points, only behind Dabang Delhi by two points, who finished sixth.
The Steelers are yet to win the Pro Kabaddi trophy. They have made it to the playoffs twice in five appearances. While the Haryana Steelers have failed to be consistent, they seem to have a strong squad for the upcoming season.
As the Steelers aim for their maiden PKL glory, here are their five players to keep an eye out for.
#5 Mohit Nandal
Like his partner Jaideep, Mohit Nandal has also been consistent for the Haryana Steelers in the last two seasons. Nandal picked up 44 tackle points in PKL 9 and 42 tackle points in the eighth edition.
He has cemented his spot as the right-cover defender in the team. Mohit and Jaideep, the cover duo, have done the bulk of the scoring for the Steelers as far as the defence is concerned, in the last two seasons.
Mohit will also have a vital role to carry out. The team will depend on the cover duo, which has proven to be one of the most dangerous ones in the Pro Kabaddi League.
#4 Jaideep Dahiya
Left-cover defender Jaideep Dahiya has been the most consistent performer for Haryana Steelers in the last couple of seasons. He picked up 66 tackle points in Season 8 and 54 last season.
Jaideep has been impressive in his two-season Pro Kabaddi career. The Haryana Steelers will expect him to keep up and build on his good performances. He will likely lead the defence and is a mainstay of this side.
#3 K Prapanjan
Haryana Steelers retained K Prapanjan ahead of the tenth season. He did not have an impressive run in Season 9, scoring only 40 raid points.
Nonetheless, he could well be the third raider and complete a strong-looking raiding unit for the Steelers. Prapanjan also brings in good experience, having played 103 PKL games and amassing 427 raid points.
He would want to repay the faith bestowed on him by the franchise and perform well this season.
#2 Chandran Ranjit
Chandran Ranjit was off-color in the previous season. Playing for the Gujarat Giants, he could manage only 95 raid points in 17 games.
Although he brings in some much-needed experience, having featured in 100 PKL games, stacking up 503 raid points. Ranjit could provide support to Siddharth and bring stability to the raiding unit of the Haryana Steelers.
They will want him to play to his full potential if they are to go the distance this time.
#1 Siddharth Desai
Siddharth Desai's inclusion in the team comes as a massive shot in the arm for the Steelers. Going by his standards, Siddharth had an average PKL 9 season, picking up 142 raid points in 17 outings for the Telugu Titans.
However, the tall and strong raider has had a stellar PKL career, with 611 raid points in 63 games. Desai has the ability to win games single-handedly and will want to fire on all cylinders to lay his hands on a maiden PKL trophy.