Pro Kabaddi League: Ranking all the 12 teams based on their Instagram followers
Instagram has been one of the most popular social networking sites with more than one billion active users, with over 80 million users followers from India. The Pro Kabaddi League is the most followed franchise-based sporting event after the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has attracted a lot of fans who follow the sport of Kabaddi with sheer enthusiasm.
With 12 teams and seven seasons of the league, the interest among the Kabaddi fans for the Pro Kabaddi League has increased by leaps and bounds. All the 12 franchises of the PKL have their own Instagram handles to connect their fans with the team's insights, players and their achievements in the competition.
The level of popularity of a team also depends upon the number of people it has on social media, as such sites play a vital role in publicizing the tournament among the fans. On that perspective, let's rank all the 12 teams of the Pro Kabaddi League based on their Instagram followers.
Note: The followers' count has been taken into consideration as on 19th February 2020.
#12 Haryana Steelers - 80.4k followers
The Haryana-based franchise, Haryana Steelers, have the lowest number of followers on Instagram amongst all 12 teams of the PKL. Even though the fans from Haryana are known for their immense interest in the sport of Kabaddi, Steelers have only amassed 80,400+ followers on Instagram.
One of the key reasons behind this could be the absence of big-match players in the side. Since Haryana Steelers were one among four teams to join the league back in Season 5, their fanbase in comparison to the others has increased at a steady pace.
Haryana Steelers have made it to the playoffs twice (Season 5 & Season 7), but couldn't manage to proceed further as they got knocked out early in both playoffs. In the seventh season, Steelers had found a dependable raiding trio of Vikas Khandola, Prashant Kumar Rai, and Vinay, who led the team towards the playoffs. However, their sudden loss in momentum in the middle and an inconsistent defensive unit led them to crash early in the Qualifier.
Steelers will be hoping to win their first title in the upcoming eighth season, as they will look to start anew by building a formidable squad with all of their areas covered.
#11 Telugu Titans - 80.8k followers
The Hyderabad-based franchise Telugu Titans have the least number of Instagram followers among the first eight teams who joined the league in the inaugural season. Telugu Titans, known for having a star-studded line-up in the past seasons, only have 80,800+ followers on the highly-used site at present.
The team had a sudden dip in their fanbase following the release of the Rahul Chaudhari, after the franchise ran out of patience with him in the seventh season. Along with Puneri Paltan, Telugu Titans is the only team to have never reached a final among the first eight teams which started the league.
In the seventh season, Telugu Titans snapped the 'Bahubali' Siddharth Desai by paying him an enormous amount of 1.45 crores in the auction. Desai performed well in the second half of the season but lacked support in the raiding. The two lethal corners - Abozar Mighani and Vishal Bhardwaj couldn't remain consistent as Titans finished at the 11th position in Season 7.
The focus will remain upon buying a dependable raider for Siddharth Desai for Telugu Titans in the upcoming auction of Season 8, as they would want to build a well-balanced defense and snap experienced offensive unit as well.