Pro Kabaddi League Season 6: Predicting Puneri Paltan's starting seven for initial matches

The franchise representing Pune, Maharashtra, Puneri Paltan are fearless and dominant on the Kabaddi mat. They were the most well-balanced side in Pro Kabaddi Season 5 with immensely experienced players in every department.

While Deepak Niwas Hooda led the raiding unit with the do-or-die specialist known as Rajesh Mondal, the corner duo of Sandeep-Girish brought shivers down the spine of raiders.

However, their raiding took them down in the Eliminator match against Patna Pirates. It was just a bad day, perhaps for the Paltans where they were a bit short below par.

Before the Season 6 auctions, Puneri Paltan retained 4 players namely, Sandeep Narwal, Girish Maruti Ernak, Rajesh Mondal and Gurunath More. The new young players retained were Monu, Vikas Khatri, Rinku Narwal and Amit Kumar.

In the Season 6 auctions, Puneri Paltan signed their former raider Nitin Tomar at a whopping signing amount of ₹1.15 crores, making him their most expensive player. They've managed to build a balanced squad of 17 players loaded with top guns.

With Ashan Kumar as the new head coach and Ashok Shinde as the chief mentor, this is how Puneri Paltan's playing 7 might look like for their initial games.

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Right Corner: Sandeep Narwal

Sandeep Narwal has played for the Patna Pirates and Telegu Titans before as well.

There is literally nothing that 'the beast from the east' cannot do. Whether it is blocking the raiders with his upper body force, jumping over the chain tackle effort from the opposition, dashing the raiders out of the court or bringing raid points with his skips, he can do it all with ease.

He is the 3rd best all-rounder in Pro Kabaddi with over 83 matches played. There arouses a bit of fear in the opposition when they witness Sandeep's aggression on the mat. With 204 raid points and 213 tackle points including 16 super tackles, Sandeep has justified his nickname.

Raw aggression combined with agility and power, Sandeep Narwal will unleash dominance on the mat once again.

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Right In: Deepak Kumar Dahiya

Deepak Dahiya executing a scorpion kick over Nitin Rawal.

Having played for the Bengaluru Bulls and the Haryana Steelers in the past, Deepak Dahiya has some good running hand touches and escaping skills in his arsenal.

He played a vital role in taking Haryana to the playoffs spot last season. With 42 matches played, Deepak Dahiya has scored 150 raid points in total. Although Deepak only averages 3.57 raid points per match, he is known to consistently support the raiding along with his sequential shuffling in the court. Deepak will bring consistent support to his partner, Nitin Tomar, who is also a 5-6 raid-pointer player.

These two will combine into a great raiding duo. One of the reputed players, Deepak Dahiya might be seen as a support to the raiding plethora of Puneri Paltan.

Right Cover: Ravi Kumar

Ravi Kumar has been a consistent performer for the Puneri Paltan in the past as well.

Ravi Kumar has been retained by the Puneri Paltan for his impressive display of defensive skills in the upcoming edition of Pro Kabaddi. He has played 53 matches and has 76 tackle points up for grabs.

An experienced campaigner, Ravi Kumar has a good defensive ability and can assist the left corner pretty well when the left corner tries to grab the raiders with his ankle holds. Single-handedly, Ravi Kumar can target both the knees of the raider which dislocates the raider's mindset to touch the midline.

Ravi Kumar is expected to show more maturity in his game-play for Pro Kabaddi Season 6 when he'll be playing the right cover and assist Girish Ernak.

Center: Rajesh Mondal

Rajesh Mondal using one of his trademark kicks

The brown-haired Bengali player, Rajesh Mondal is a highly admired do-or-die specialist in Pro Kabaddi history. He has 246 total raid points in his bag with 78 matches played.

Around 48.37% of his raid points are the do-or-die raid points (119 raid points). He adores pressure situations and gets you crucial points with his hand touches and escaping skills.

If his skills are observed precisely, he pushes the defenders towards the end line and quickly gets a touch point on them. Rajesh Mondal's heroics booked his place once again to play for Puneri Paltan as he was an elite retained pick for them. Over the course of 5 seasons, Rajesh Mondal has been an exhilarating player to watch and will continue to do furthermore.

Left cover: Vinod Narwal

Vinod Narwal was previously a part of the Patna Pirates as well.

Having played for the Patna Pirates in the past, Vinod Narwal is an absolute wizard in terms of his thigh holds from the left cover position. He can assist the corner defender pretty well during the ankle hold/dive effort brought by the right corner.

He can magnetize the right raiders by pulling them distant from the midline. Vinod has played 25 matches and has brought 48 tackle points. With the lack of options for cover position, Vinod Narwal will be most probably picked for the playing 7. However, to give continuity to his place, he will have to showcase his hidden abilities.

Left In: Nitin Tomar

Nitin Tomar was the most expensive player of Pro Kabaddi Season 5 with ₹93 lakhs.

Known for showing consistency in his raiding, Nitin is a self-made leader by himself. He has developed himself as a leader after his stellar performance in Season 5.

Nitin has over 277 raid points in 42 matches with an average of 6.6 raid points per match. He is known to have a sequential movement in the opposition's court. Nitin had a fantastic outing in Season 5 when he scored 167 raid points in the 20 matches he played, with an astonishing average of 8.35 raid point per match and with 7 Super 10s to his name.

Nitin has grabbed an enormous amount of respect from his fans to gain such a reputation and will carry on with his performance in the upcoming edition of the Pro Kabaddi.

Left Corner: Girish Maruti Ernak

Girish sometimes brings a surprise factor with his ankle holds.

Girish Ernak has been on top of the world as a left corner at the moment. Raiders fear a lot while raiding on his side.

From a positive outing of Puneri Paltan last season to winning the Senior Nationals 2017-18 as a part of the Maharashtra team, he has done it all. He even contributed 19 defense points with 2 high 5s in the Dubai Kabaddi Masters.

Girish has dominated the defense totally -- be it ankle holds, waist holds or muscular body blocks. He is a veteran of the game and masters these moves pretty well. In his career of 69 matches in Pro Kabaddi, he has 172 tackle points, averaging 2.5 tackle point per match.

Girish formed a great partnership with Sandeep in the right corner in his former outing with Patna and Pune. Girish will bring his might on the mat and prove his mettle once again in the Pro Kabaddi Season 6.