For the last couple of seasons of the Pro Kabaddi League, the Puneri Paltan have been an unstoppable force in the sport of Kabaddi. The Season 9 Finalists continued their strong vein of form into Season 10, where they broke all barriers and declared themselves the Greatest Kabaddi Team in the Pro Kabaddi League’s 10-season History. And it seems that the Men In Orange are not stopping anytime soon in Season 11.
Puneir Paltan Dismantle Gujarat Giants
The Season 10 Champions have picked up from exactly where they left off and continue to dominate the opposition with ease. Just 2 nights back the Puneri Paltan defeated the Gujarat Giants by a margin of 19 points. Yes, the Gujarat Giants side was poor but the Paltan side utterly demolished them during the 40 minutes, especially in the first half. What’s even more impressive is that last night Puneri Paltan played without their captain Aslam Inamdar who wasn’t included in the squad after a collision the day before which gave him a minor concussion.
No Shadloui No Probelm
“A Superteam with no Superstars”. That’s the best way to describe Puneri Paltan this season. Such is their dominance that the absence of Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, the monster in the left corner is hardly noticeable. He was arguably the one superstar in that team last season. Capable of alone changing the tide of the match. But now, it’s 7 players and 1 soul on the mat.
Such is their cohesiveness that they fill up for the discrepancies left by their teammates on any given day. If one out of the 7 isn’t performing up to the mark, the other 6 make it their job to cover the 7th player’s job to perfection. If you think it’s a team with 4 defenders, you are wrong. It’s a team of 7 defenders with each and every player capable of pulling off an advanced tackle whenever needed.
Facing them often proves to be like facing armour with little to no chinks in it. That’s how good they have been this season. Out of their 7 matches, they have 5 wins, one draw and a solitary loss. When they win, they win big, and when they lose which is quite seldom, they lose by the barest of margins.
Puneri Paltan Have Unmatched Quality In Their Depth
With Gaurav Khatri, Mohit Goyat, Pankaj Mohite, Abhinesh Nadarajan, Sanket Savant, Aman and Aslam Inamdar as their most reliable starting 7 they are guaranteed a playoff finish and might as well top the PKL table. But the Puneri Paltan is much more than the seven who start the game, it’s their insane depth that is even more impressive. Akash Shinde on any given day holds the calibre to start for any given PKL team and be their star raider or the 1st supporting raider. That’s how insane their depth is. Every match, almost as if out of pity for the opposing side, they make substitutions to give chances to their youngsters on the bench.
The fact that they can afford to do so in almost all of their matches tells you how great of a margin they lead in those games. Considering all these factors, it’s not difficult to understand why Puneri Paltan is on track to defend their PKL title with relative ease.
