Revamped Patna Pirates target record-extending fourth PKL title

New Delhi: Three-time Pro Kabaddi League champions Patna Pirates will be eager to reclaim title glory after crashing out in the semi-finals last season. The most successful team in PKL history, the Pirates claimed a hat-trick of titles from Season 3 to 5 and will be keen to get their hands on the coveted trophy once again.

Narender Redhu, who led Patna Pirates to the semi-finals in PKL 10 as head coach, will once again hope to help the Pirates enjoy another solid campaign and qualify for the playoffs, at the very least.

They were one of the busiest teams at the Season 11 Player Auction table and bought more than a dozen players to add to their squad.

The Pirates’ biggest strength in PKL 11 is likely to be the depth of their squad across both attack and defence. The Season 11 Player Auction saw them buy plenty of talents with defender Shubham Shinde being their most expensive purchase at Rs 70 lakh followed by all-rounder Gurdeep at Rs 59 lakh.

Their raiding unit could be led by Sudhakar M, who was a revelation in his debut campaign that saw him notch up 103 raid points. Sandeep Kumar is another promising raider who will look to better his previous tally of 86 raid points for the Pirates in what was also his first PKL season. Their attack also features the likes of Meetu Sharma and Jang Lee, who have amassed 267 and 471 raid points respectively.

Similar to their attack, Patna Pirates also boast a lot of numbers and variety in defence. Shubham Shinde and Deepak Singh, who have accumulated 151 and 61 tackle points in PKL, respectively, are expected to be their leaders in defence, while all-rounders Gurdeep and Ankit are also likely to chip in. Gurdeep has 85 tackle points under his belt in PKL, whereas Ankit managed 66 tackle points in his sole season so far.

As far as weaknesses are concerned, the lack of quality like-for-like replacements from last season in both attack and defence could potentially hurt the Pirates. Despite their squad depth and quantity of players and the lack of quality options to replace the likes of their lead raider last season, Sachin along with ex-skipper Neeraj Kumar may come back to haunt Patna Pirates.

Krishan, who was their best defender last season with 78 tackle points, won’t be a part of the team in the upcoming season either, meaning the Pirates are without both their best raider and defender from last season. With Jang Lee being the only raider in their team to play more than 60 games in PKL, the lack of experience in attack coupled with the Pirates’ defensive frailties cannot be ignored.

That said, the relative lack of experience in attack and defence for the Pirates will allow players to rise to the challenge by taking the onus of scoring points on themselves. Three such individuals who can potentially emerge as leaders in the team in Season 11 are Sudhakar M and Sandeep Kumar in attack and Shubham Shinde in defence.

As already mentioned, Sudhakar M impressed one and all with fine displays in his debut PKL campaign last season. With Sachin no longer a part of the team, a lot will be expected from Sudhakar M and it will be interesting to see if he’s up to the task of becoming a lead raider. Similarly, Shubham Shinde enjoyed a solid season with 62 tackle points last time around. With Neeraj Kumar and Krishan no longer a part of the team, Shubham Shinde will be hoping to don the role of a leader in defence.

The lack of genuine all-rounders in the team is a potential threat to the Pirates as it could hamper the overall balance of the side. Even though Gurdeep and Ankit are their two most experienced all-rounders on paper, the fact that they combine for a total of two raid points in their PKL career highlights their shortcomings in attack.

As a result, Patna Pirates’ raiding unit should be on the money more often than not, adding to the pressure on an already burdened and inexperienced attack. The three-time champions will hope that the experienced Jang Lee and Meetu Sharma can perform to their maximum potential having not been in the best of form in their past few season.