Pro Kabaddi winners: Champions of last four PKL seasons
The Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 is all set to get underway on July 28 and fans all around the country are excited about its start. This edition will have a total of 12 teams, after four new ones were added, and will feature over 130 matches spread across a time period of 13 weeks.
The auction for the new season was concluded last week and saw all the teams build their rosters for the upcoming campaign. Raider Nitin Tomar was the highest pick, fetching a whopping Rs 93 lakh sum from the newly-formed Uttar Pradesh team. Following him in second place is Rohit Kumar, who will return to the Bengaluru Bulls after being bought for Rs 81 lakh.
In the international player list, it was Jang Kun Lee who was the highest earner as the South Korean was retained by the Bengal Warriors and subsequently netted a sum of Rs 80.30 lakhs thanks to the dynamic pricing system.
In this article, let’s take a look at the past winners of the Pro Kabaddi League:
Season 1 – Jaipur Pink Panthers
The inaugural season of the Pro Kabaddi League was won by the Jaipur Pink Panthers, who defeated U Mumba in the final with a comfortable 35-24 margin. They had finished on top of the table in the league stage, winning 10 out of their 14 matches. In the semifinals, they were up against the Patna Pirates, who were swept aside in a one-sided game.
The star performers for the Pink Panthers were raider Maninder Singh, who scored a mammoth 130 raid points in the season while Rohit Rana was a rock in defence with 38 tackle points.
Season 2 – U Mumba
The second season saw the side from Mumbai reign supreme as they romped to an emphatic win. They defeated the Bengaluru Bulls, that had the likes of Manjeet Chhillar, in the final by a 36-30 scoreline.
The U Mumba side at the time was one of the best in PKL history, with Anup Kumar, Shabeer Bapu and Rishank Devadiga as their raiders and an ironclad defence consisting of Mohit Chhilar, Vishal Mane, Fazel Atrachali and Surender Nada.
Season 3 – Patna Pirates
The season three finale was the best of the lot and was decided by a successful raid by rookie Deepak Narwal, who had come on as a substitute. The Pirates were the underdogs going into the final against U Mumba but scraped out a 31-28 win in the end.
Season 4 – Patna Pirates
Patna made it two titles in a row after defeating the Jaipur Pink Panthers in the final of season four. Led by the mercurial Pardeep Narwal in attack, the Pirates won the final by a comfortable 37-29 margin in the end. It will be fascinating to see whether they will make it three in a row this season!