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Three-time champions Patna Pirates have not won the Pro Kabaddi League since the fifth season. The Pirates reached the final in season eight, but lost to Dabang Delhi KC by just one point.
Last season, the Pirates qualified for the playoffs, but they could not qualify for the final. The three-time champions decided to change their plans for season 11 and released top performers like Sachin Tanwar and Krishan Dhull from the squad.
Surprisingly, the Pirates did not choose to re-sign Sachin or Krishan at the auction either. Instead, the team management assembled a young squad featuring some upcoming talents.
Although Patna will not be the outright favorites to win Pro Kabaddi 2024, here are three reasons why the Pirates can end PKL 11 as champions.
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#1 Depth in all 3 departments
Most teams have preferred to stack up their raid and defense with some big names, but the Patna Pirates prioritized depth in all departments. The Pirates retained two of their best raiders from the last season - Sudhakar M and Sandeep Kumar. They also kept Kunal Mehta in the team.
To provide depth to the raiding unit, the Pirates signed Jang Kun Lee, Meetu Sharma, Devank, Deepak, Ayan, Sahil Patil, and Pravinder at the auction. Thus, in case one of their main raiders gets injured or is out of form, the Pirates have ample options available to replace him.
In the same way, the Pirates have 10 specialist defenders and three talented all-rounders in their squad. For every position, Patna have multiple options, a luxury which only a few teams have in PKL 11.
#2 'X-factor' pair of Sandeep Kumar and Sudhakar M
Although Patna Pirates let go of Sachin Tanwar before the Pro Kabaddi 2024 Auction, the team still has their star raiding duo of Sandeep Kumar and Sudhakar M.
In season 11, Sandeep scored 87 points in 20 matches at an impressive raid strike rate of 55%. Meanwhile, Sudhakar crossed the 100 points milestone in his debut season itself and even contributed his bit in the defense.
Puneri Paltan have achieved a ton of success in recent PKL seasons thanks to their duo of Mohit Goyat and Aslam Inamdar. Sandeep and Sudhakar will be trying to do the same job for the Pirates now.
#3 Patna Pirates have a stellar corner duo
As mentioned ahead, Patna released Krishan Dhull from their squad even though he was the best Indian defender last season. Instead, the Pirates opted to sign Shubham Shinde at the auction. Shinde earned 67 points for the Bengal Warriorz last season.
Patna have named Shinde as their new captain, while left corner specialist all-rounder Ankit Jaglan will be his deputy. Ankit made his PKL debut last season and ended up scoring 66 points in 23 matches.
If the pair of Shinde and Jaglan continue in the same vein and handle the added responsibility of leadership well, the Patna Pirates will be a force to be reckoned with in season 11.
