Pro Kabaddi League 2018: 5 reasons why UP Yoddha can win the title

Pro Kabaddi League Season 6 will commence from the 7th of October 2018 as the teams gear themselves for a long, gruelling season up ahead. Twelve franchises of the league will battle it out on the mat over the duration of three months as the Pro Kabaddi League will kickstart with the Chennai leg at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and conclude at the NSCI Dome in Mumbai, Maharashtra on January 5, 2019, where the champions will be crowned in the grand finale.

UP Yoddha was one of the four debuting franchises last season and played their home leg at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The team made a big splash in last year's auction when they signed all-rounder Nitin Tomar for a then-record price of 93 Lakhs. They further added steel to their lineup picking Rishank Devadiga as the duo put on stellar performances throughout the season and led the side all the way to the playoff stages in their first season in the league.

Going into the sixth season, the UP Yoddha have built a well-balanced squad from the Pro Kabaddi League 2018 auction. They lost out Nitin Tomar to the Puneri Paltan but have signed Rishank Devadiga for a price of 1.11 Crores making him the lead raider for the side.

The Yoddhas have added more raiding firepower to their squad this season when they picked up former Haryana Steeler Prashanth Kumar Rai and U Mumba man Shrikant Jadhav who had impressed last season with their performances on the mat. Veteran defender Jeeva Kumar will spearhead the defensive lineup for the UP Yoddha franchise along with the youngsters in the roster like Nitesh Kumar, Pankaj and Sagar Krishna who will get a chance to make their mark this season again.

We take a look at a few reasons why the UP Yoddha can step up and challenge for the title in their second season in the Pro Kabaddi League.

#1 Smart signings in the PKL 2018 Auction

GMR League Games Pvt Ltd-owned UP Yoddha, in their two seasons in the Pro Kabaddi League have always stepped it up at the auctions. In their debut season, they made huge waves with Nitin Tomar's signing for 93 Lakhs which was the highest buy at last year's auction. They did not use the priority pick option last year and utilized the funds to grab Nitin Tomar and Rishank Devadiga in the auction last season.

This year as well, they played it smart in the auction and picked up good signings using their purse well. Shrikant Jadhav, Prashanth Kumar Rai and Rishank Devadiga cost them over 2 crores in total but they will spearhead the raiding and will ultimately end up giving them the dividends in form of glory in the league.

#2 New coach Jasveer Singh

UP Yoddha have changed their head coach this season when they signed Jasveer Singh for the sixth season of the Pro Kabaddi League. They decided to change their former manager J. Udaya Kumar and have opted to bring in Jasveer Singh for the season.

A renewed squad under a new coach could just prove to be the key for UP Yoddha to raise their profile and mount a challenge for the title, after making the playoffs last season in their debut outing.

#3 Prashant Kumar Rai's promising raiding skillset

Prasanth Kumar Rai impressed for Haryana Steelers last season

Prashanth Kumar Rai has played in all the seasons of the Pro Kabaddi League starting out with the Telugu Titans in the first season of the league. He made hay of the rare chances thrown his way and impressed whenever he stepped on the mat. After three seasons with the Titans, he played for the Dabang Delhi KC side but was used very sparingly by the team.

Rai's breakout moment came last season when he was signed by the new franchise Haryana Steelers. Along with Wazir Singh, Rai took up the responsibility of the raiding unit and was a key component of their squad last season. He ended up scoring 78 raid points in sixteen matches for the franchise last season on their way to the playoff qualification. He scored three Super Raids and three Super 10s which were the most for any player on the roster.

Rai was signed by UP Yoddha for a massive price of Rs. 79 Lakhs which further emphasizes his importance for the side and their faith in him for the upcoming season.

#4 Jeeva Kumar's experience in the defence

Jeeva Kumar is a veteran defender on the Kabaddi circuit and has been a mainstay in the Pro Kabaddi League for all the seasons so far. He was part of a highly successful U Mumba setup for four seasons of the PKL before being signed by the UP Yoddha last season.

Kumar scored 44 tackle points last season and was the leading scorer in Super Tackles in the entire league. He is a calm and composed character in pressure situations and his experience will count for a lot for the UP Yoddha this season.

#5 Star man Rishank Devadiga leading the franchise

Rishank Devadiga made a name for himself in the league with his exploits for U Mumba for the first four seasons of the Pro Kabaddi League. He has been consistently one of the highest scoring raiders in the league and developed into a lethal raider.

Last season, he starred for the UP Yoddha alongside Nitin Tomar when he scored 170 points in 21 matches. Devadiga scored 5 Super 10s and 12 Super Raids, which was the second best in the league behind Pardeep Narwal. He scored 28 points in a single match which was a record until Narwal broke it later in the season.

Devadiga has been handed the duty of leading the side this season and he is totally capable of guiding the UP Yoddha to glory in their second season in the league.

Edited by Kishan Prasad