Naveen Kumar's captaincy debut, Pawan Sehrawat's 'god-like' status & more- 12 big questions ahead of Pro Kabaddi 2022

#9 Pawan Sehrawat: The god-sent star to end the Tamil Thalaivas' misery in Pro Kabaddi?

For ardent fans of Pro Kabaddi, there's quite a pattern you can observe in how the Tamil Thalaivas stack up their squad. They often tend to put all their eggs in one basket - be it a star-studded lineup involving the Chhillars, Chaudharis and Thakurs or penning their names down in the history books by emptying their purse on one man.

In the second case, for those in the unknown, the Thalaivas signed Pawan Sehrawat for ₹2.26 Crore in the PKL 9 auction, and admittedly, the management was hell-bent on signing the star raider at any cost.

For starters, it is understandable why. No man has outscored Pawan over the course of the last three PKL seasons, and as stark opposite, there's not been one season where the Thalaivas have not finished last in the Pro Kabaddi points table since their first season in 2017.

So the Thalaivas auction plan seems very transparent. They wanted someone who can single-handedly bring them wins and take them up the ladder - maybe even win them the PKL title. That someone is 'Hi-Flyer' Sehrawat, and while he is going to be the fulcrum around which the team revolves, he might well be the god-sent lad to turn around the Thalaivas' fortunes.

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#10 Will the world-beaters squad of Telugu Titans fall to the curse of 'too many cooks spoil the broth'?

If a kabaddi fan had a look at the Telugu Titans' potential starting 7 with no context of PKL, they would not be in the wrong to assume the line-up is fit enough to represent the Indian national team. Okay - maybe a stretch, but there's reason to it.

Ravinder Pahal, Monu Goyat, Surjeet Singh, Siddharth Desai, Parvesh Bhainswal, Abhishek Singh, Vishal Bhardwaj is the expected starting 7 - most of them have already played for India, while a good season for Siddharth or Abhishek could easily find them a spot in the Asian Games 2022 squad.

Yes, there are massive question marks over the form of both Desai and Goyat, but both of them have starred in previous seasons, and there's no reason why they can't repeat the same in PKL 9.

Ahead of Pro Kabaddi 2022, the Titans look world-beaters on paper, but they'll need to be careful and make sure there aren't too many voices on the mat - or else they could go down the Thalaivas' way.

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#11 Who will step up and deliver for U Mumba?

This could well be the question that is also the end of the discussion, but as there is with every team, an explanation beckons.

U Mumba released Abhishek Singh ahead of the auction and tried their level best at the auction to sign Pawan Sehrawat, but to no avail. They eventually had to settle for Guman Singh (₹1.21 Cr), and he'll be leading a raiding unit that doesn't boast of star power.

Defence could well be the form of attack for U Mumba, with skipper Surinder Singh set to partner Harendra Kumar and Rinku in a solid defensive combination. Yet, skipper Singh himself is often embroiled in errors, often attempting dashes or holds that should be avoided.

With a new coach also in Anil Chaprana at the top, there are multiple questions around how the team will live up to expectations in Pro Kabaddi 2022.

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#12 Will a fit-again UP Yoddhas star Pardeep Narwal cause terror among the defenders?

Ahead of the PKL 8 season, 'Dubki King' Pardeep Narwal shattered the record books by becoming the costliest player in Pro Kabaddi history, signed by the UP Yoddhas for ₹1.65 Crore.

Naturally, all of the UP matches were watched closely to see how Pardeep would live up to his price tag, but frequent fitness issues and lack of confidence meant that the ace raider was a pale shadow of his usually aggressive raiding self.

Pardeep scored just 188 points from 24 matches, an average of 7.83 points per match, nothing close to the expectations that the UP management and fans had from him.

In the pre-season press conference, UP Yoddhas skipper Nitesh Kumar specifically mentioned that Pardeep is "fit and raring to go", sending out alarm bells to the oppositions.

Without Pardeep, UP did very well to qualify for the PKL 8 playoffs, but if their star raider is in form and strikes a partnership with veteran Nitin Tomar, then the Yoddhas could be hard to stop on their way to the Pro Kabaddi 2022 title.