Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Top 5 players who will be eager to put Season 4 behind them

The Pro Kabaddi League is all set to embark on a new journey from the 28^th of July, with 12 teams from 11 cities to compete for the coveted title in the bigger and grander fifth edition which will last for a good three months. More than 200 players will take to the mat, to showcase their talent, skills and moreover prove their worth! However, one concern always on the mind of the player is picking up from where they last played.

Form then is a constant variable when it comes to sportsmen and kabaddi is no exception to that adage. Sportskeeda thus looks at five such players who will be eager to put their Season 4 performance behind them and begin the new edition with renewed vigour:

#5 Nilesh Shinde

The right corner defender seemed to have lost his touch in Season 4, just executing 26 successful tackles throughout the course of the tournament. With experience by his side, the veteran from Maharashtra was expected to marshall his Bengal Warriors troop on the mat, a task that probably weighed down heavily on his individual performance as well.

The inability to cash in or the opposition’s do-or-die raids, giving away easy points due to unplanned advance tackles and most importantly the lack of consistency overshadowed his occasional good outings. This time around, however, he will be looking to perform well with the Dabang Delhi side, where he will just have to lead the defensive charge under the aegis of skipper Meraj Sheykh.

#4 Vishal Mane

Vishal Mane (tackling) will play for the defending champions, Patna Pirates in the fifth season of PKL

The Bengal Warriors finished at the bottom of the table last season and a large share for this outcome can be attributed to the defensive failure of the team. Vishal Mane switched sides from Season 2 champions U Mumba to Bengal ahead of the fourth edition and was expected to replicate the role he played for his former side. But that never really happened at all, with silly errors in terms of timing and wrong moves he granted easy points to the rival shore.

The blocks and pushes also lacked the same brute strength and sheer power from earlier on, as is evident by his mere 31 tackle points. Post the auctions, Vishal has moved on to the defending champions, Patna Pirates where he will look to combine with Sachin Shingade to form an impregnable wall against the raiders.

#3 Sukesh Hegde

Sukesh Hegde has been appointed as the captain of the Fortune Giants Gujarat

The do-or-die specialist for the Telugu Titans possibly had the worst season in the fourth edition with just seven raid points to his name. After the first few initial matches, the young gun was relegated to the bench due to some major injury concerns that held him up until the very end.

This time, however, with his individual fitness at the peak post the training camp held by the Gujarat franchise, Sukesh will be looking to make up for his lost time on the mat in a big way. He has also been appointed as the captain of the team and will be eager to lead by example and get back to his rampant raiding ways.

#2 Shabeer Bapu

Shabeer Bapu has returned to the U Mumba fold for Season 5

In his first three seasons at U Mumba, Shabeer Bapu had a total of 125 raid points to his credit. Prior to Season 4, he switched over to the Jaipur Pink Panthers franchise, a move that many experts of the game said would hurt the Mumbai team and greatly benefit the Jaipur side. However, it was not to be, and Shabeer just managed to pick up a total of 24 raid points throughout the season.

His raids seemed off-colour, lacking in terms of swiftness and agility that was otherwise his trademark. Back with U Mumba for the fifth edition, Shabeer will be hoping to reprise his role under Anup Kumar’s captaincy and fetch greater glory for the team by ensuring that the scoreboard keeps ticking.

#1 Nitin Tomar

Nitin Tomar was the most expensive player at the auctions, going for 93 lakhs

The man from the Services may have fetched the biggest bucks at the auctions, Rs. 93 lakhs to be precise but the lad did not have a particularly stellar performance in Season 4 and it was probably his exploits from the previous editions that fetched him that price tag.

Collecting just 30 raid points in the Puneri Paltan side where he was playing with the likes of Deepak Hooda, Ajay Thakur and Manjeet Chhillar amongst others, Nitin finished lowly on the leaderboard as well.

His raids seemed to be incomplete in the sense of escape tactics and swift touches but he soon made up for them with a good outing at the World Cup in October. He will be looking to pick up from there and lead the raiding charge for the UP Yoddhas along with Rishank Devadiga.