Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Huge injury blow for Dabang Delhi ahead of new season

The Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 is all set to start on July 28 and promises to be bigger and better than ever. The new edition will feature a whopping 12 teams, after four new ones were added, and have been divided into two zones of six each in an exciting and innovative format that will have the top six teams enter the playoffs.

Training camps are underway across the country and camped a few kilometres outside their home city are the Dabang Delhi side. The entire team is preparing hard for the new campaign but unfortunately, one star player is set to miss the season due to injury.

Suraj Desai, who was bought by the Dabang side at the player auction in May for a mammoth Rs 52.50 lakhs, will miss Season 5 due to injury. The team are in talks with the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) and the organizers of the league about a possible replacement for the raider.

Related: Pro Kabaddi 2017 Season 5: Kabaddi players and their cricketer equivalents

However, the coach of the Delhi team, Dr Ramesh Bhendigiri, said that even if no replacement is found, the team has adequate backup. He stated that there is no need to worry as there is enough raiding depth in the squad – both on the left and right side of the mat.

The team has a host of raiders to choose from – Rohit Baliyan, Ravi Dalal and Suresu Kumar, along with Iranian import Abolfazel Maghsodloo. In defence, they have two strong and experienced defenders in the form of Nilesh Shinde and Bajirao Hodage, both of whom have played alongside each other for many years.

The team is yet to announce their captain for the new season. Iran superstar and all-rounder Meraj Sheykh, who led the team during the second half of last season, is currently back home and will join the camp in the coming days. Veteran corner defender Nilesh Shinde is also a possible candidate for the role and the team management have stated that they will take a call one week before the start of the new season.

Here is the squad in full:

Abolfazl Maghsoudlou Mahalli (Raider), Anand Patil (Raider), Ravi Dalal (Raider), Rohit Baliyan (Raider), Suraj Desai (Raider), Suresu Kumar (Raider), Bajirao Hodage (Defender), Nilesh Shinde (Defender), Sunil Kumar (Defender), Viraj Vishnu Landge (Defender), Rupesh Tomar (All Rounder), Tapas Pal (All Rounder), Vishal (All Rounder), Shubham Ashok Palkar (Raider), Vipin Malik (Raider), Satpal (Defender), Swapnil Dilip Shinde (Defender), Chetan S (All Rounder), Yatharth (All Rounder)