Team of the Seasons
The PKL 7 ended with Bengal Warriors crowned champions for the first time in their history, while the impressive Dabang Delhi suffered a heartbreak in the final. PKL 7 saw some brilliant individual seasons by many players. The beauty of this season was the new break out stars that upstaged the established stars. Our team of the season has a deadly raiding combination of Pardeep Narwal, Pawan Sehrawat and Naveen Kumar. While the defence consists members of U.P Yoddha, U Mumba, Gujarat Fortune Giants and Puneri Paltan.
Right Corner:
Nitesh Kumar: The young U.P Yoddha right corner enjoyed another stunning PKL season ending the campaign with 75 tackle points. The 22-year old ended the campaign as unarguably the best right corner of Pro Kabaddi Season 7. The right corner became the quickest player in terms of matches in PKL history to score 200 tackle points in a Pro Kabaddi Season. Nitesh after being handed the captaincy started slowly but came into his own as the season progressed leading from the front and forming a deadly corner combination with left corner Sumit. Nitesh has emerged as one of the most complete defenders of PKL with his vice like ankle and thigh holds.
Right in:
Pawan Sehrawat: Pawan Sehrawat ended the campaign once again as the best raider in PKL 7 establishing himself as arguably as one of the best raiders of PKL. Pawan destroyed defences of PKL 7 using his blistering speed to effect hand touches and also possesses dubki and jump to escape the clutches of the defenders. The 23-year old’s impact can be gauged by his superlative performance throughout the season scoring 346 raid points the most by a raider in Pro Kabaddi Season 7 single handedly taking the Bulls to the semi-finals. The right raiders tally of 39 raid points against Haryana Steelers was also the most by a player in a single PKL match further highlighting his destructive impact. Pawan’s efforts helped him win the best raider award of Pro Kabaddi League Season 7.
Right Cover:
Surjeet Singh: Surjeet Singh was surprisingly not retained by Bengal Warriors after 2 fairly successful seasons as the Captain of Bengal Warriors. Puneri Paltan picked him for 55 lakhs and the Services defender was named as the captain of Puneri Paltan for Pro Kabaddi Season 7. Surjeet endured a mixed season where he veered between brilliant in one match to being ordinary in the other match. The 29-year old scored 63 tackle points, the most by a right cover defender in Pro Kabaddi Season 7. The Navy man didn’t do justice to his talents but the fact that he still ended up as the most successful right cover highlights his talents and also the lack of good right covers in the Pro Kabaddi League.
Centre:
Pardeep Narwal: Patna Pirates failed to reach the play-offs for the second consecutive season in PKL history but “The Dubki King” can still hold his head high after another stupendous campaign. The 23-year old scored 302 raid points at an incredible average of around 13 raid points per match. Pardeep’s hand touches, jumps and dubkis proved too hot to handle for the defences. His efforts meant he was only raider in Pro Kabaddi history to score 300 raid points in a season twice. The left raider passed another landmark in PKL 7 when he became the first player to score 1000 raid points in Pro Kabaddi. The Patna Pirates captain also has 59 Super 10s, the most by a player in PKL history.
Left Cover:
Parvesh Bhainswal: Parvesh Bhainswal didn’t enjoy the best of season according to his lofty standards but the tall defender from Haryana still was the best left cover in Pro Kabaddi Season 7. The 22-year old scored 55 tackle points, among left covers only Mahender Singh scored more tackle points but Parvesh had a much better success rate than Mahender Singh. The tall defender is blessed with a deadly thigh hold to go with blocks and chain tackles making him the most lethal cover in the business. His performances in the last 3 seasons means the International reckoning is just a matter of time.
Left in:
Naveen Kumar: Young Naveen Kumar proved to be a sensation for Dabang Delhi leading their raiding department scoring 301 raid points, only the 3rd player to reach the 300 raid points milestone. The 19-year old was one of the big reasons for Dabang Delhi making their first ever play-offs in PKL history. Incredibly, the smiling teenager scored 22 Super 10s in 23 matches the most by a player in a single Pro Kabaddi history. Naveen’s record of 21 consecutive Super 10s is a record that will take a monumental effort from a player to be beaten. Naveen’s biggest asset is his quick footwork and the ability to lure defences into making mistakes. He is quick on the mat, possesses a deadly running hand touch and has added a bonus in his arsenal in Pro Kabaddi Season 7.
Left Corner:
Fazel Atrachali: Fazel created history when he became the first foreigner to be retained by U Mumba for 1 Crore 10 lakhs Rupees. U Mumba named him as their Captain for the season and the Iranian “Iron Man” once again enjoyed a spectacular PKL campaign leading U Mumba to their first semi-final in 4 years. The 27-year old finished the campaign with 82 tackle points, winning the best defender award for the 2nd time in Pro Kabaddi history, in fact, “Sultan Fazel is the only player to win the best defender award twice in PKL. The left corner also became the firsts foreigner to score 300 tackle points in PKL history.
