India’s second-most watched league, Pro Kabaddi League, is back for its 11th edition on October 18th, 2024.
After an auction that saw records broken left, right, and center, all 12 franchises are getting a new look, from the change in players to the coaching personnel.
We look at how season 8 champions Dabang Delhi line up for the upcoming 11th season of the Pro Kabaddi League:
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Dabang Delhi Season 10 Review
Dabang Delhi had a decent season last time reaching the playoffs and finishing third in the league table with 13 wins and 79 points. They lost a close encounter against Patna Pirates in the first eliminator.
Despite losing their star raider Naveen Kumar after six matches due to injury, Delhi performed well as Ashu Malik stepped up scoring 276 raid points. He finished the season as the highest-scoring raider of the league.
In defence, Yogesh was a force to reckon with as he managed to score 74 tackle points finishing among the top five defenders of the league.
PKL Season 11- Squad Changes
Delhi has a new coach as former player Joginder Narwal was promoted from assistant coach to head coach this season. The former captain of Dabang Delhi retained most of the core and made some smart picks in the auction.
Delhi added Siddharth Desai to the raiding unit while defender Rinku Narwal and all-rounder Ashish came in to bring defensive solidity to the team.
Dabang Delhi full squad for PKL 2024
Naveen Kumar, Ashu Malik, Manu, Mohit, Siddharth Sirish Desai, Mohammed Mijanur Rahman, Himanshu, Parveen, Rahul, Vinay, Himmat Antil, Ashish, Yogesh, Vikrant, Sandeep, Mohammad Baba Ali, Gaurav Chhillar, Rahul, Rinku Narwal, Ashish, Nitin Panwar, Brijendra Singh Chaudhary
PKL 11 Preview- Strength and Weakness
Strength: With the addition of Siddharth Desai, Delhi has one of the most potent raiding units in the league with season 10 highest-scoring raider Ashu Malik and ever-reliable Naveen Kumar already there.
Naveen will be itching to go after missing the majority of the 10th season due to an injury. He is sixth on the all-time leaderboard for most raid points (1005) in PKL history.
In defence, Yogesh and Ashish put up a good show last season and will look to shoulder the defensive duties with experienced Rinku Narwal who joined the team after being picked in the auction.
Ashish, Nitin Panwar, and Brijendra Chaudhary make a good line-up for all-rounders and with their presence, Delhi has more or less a balanced squad.
Weakness: One of the biggest weaknesses of Dabang Delhi is that their raiders are injury prone and it can impact the whole season. All three of them (Naveen, Ashu, and Siddharth) have a history of getting injured mid-season.
If either of Naveen and Ashu succumbs to injury, the burden of raiding will fall heavily on the other player, disrupting the team’s raiding balance.
Siddharth Desai has struggled to cope with the mantle of being a team’s main raider in the last few seasons and Dabang Delhi K.C.’s all-rounders don’t seem ready to take on the lead raider responsibility yet.
Another concern for Delhi will be the defensive line-up.
Both Yogesh and Ashish have performed in just one season and Rinku Narwal hasn’t been a good performer in the last two seasons he played.
Dabang Delhi Predicted line-up for PKL 11
Yogesh (Right Corner), Ashish (Left Corner), Naveen Kumar (Center), Ashu Malik (Right In), Siddharth Desai (Left In), Ashish (Right Cover), Vikrant (Left Cover).