Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five reasons why Patna can make it a hat-trick of trophies this season
The fifth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League is all set to begin on the 28th of July, in a bigger and better avatar than ever before. 12 teams from 11 cities will battle it out on the kabaddi mat for a span of 90 days in 140 plus matches in order to claim the all-important trophy.
The player auctions prior to the season held in May, saw franchise owners spending close to Rs. 50 crores with an aim to build the strongest possible squad replete with talent, skills and equitable balance in the attack and defence.
For the last two season, the men in green from Patna Pirates have emerged as champions and due credit has to be attributed to the team management who ensure each time that they have the best players in the team ranks in order to enable them to go the distance.
We look at 5 reasons why Patna can complete a hat-trick of trophies in the fifth season:
#1 Pardeep Narwal
The most successful raider in Season 3 of PKL and then the Most Valuable Player in the fourth edition of the league. It was sort of obvious that the Patna think tank chose to retain the services of this star raider for the fifth season. Well, possibly the best young raider on the mat, Pardeep has been in glorious form not only in the last two seasons but he also showcased his prowess in the World Cup last year.
Exhibiting a plethora of skills from the exclusive dubkis, to swift touches and rare high jumps, Pardeep will lead the attack for the Pirates. Moreover, consistency is the key word when it comes to Pardeep; with his rampant raids, he amassed 116 points in the third season and followed it up with 115 in the next edition. If he gets going, which he does more often than not, Patna will find it very easy to go the distance against most opposition teams.