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The seventh season of India's premier Kabaddi competition, the Pro Kabaddi League 2019 is all set to start from July 20th. The tournament will host the summit clash on October 19 with twelve teams set to clash in a brand new format as they look for a shot at the title.
The schedule of the tournament was announced recently which listed the Telugu Titans set to host U Mumba in the first game of this edition. The second match would see Rohit Kumar's Bengaluru Bulls and Pardeep Narwal's Patna Pirates square off against each other.
Quite contrary to the previous season, the format for Pro Kabaddi 2019 has been tweaked a little. This edition will follow the double round-robin format wherein each team will play all the other teams twice in the League stage. The top two teams will progress to the semi-finals while the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th placed teams will participate in Eliminator 1 and Eliminator 2 with the final semi-final spot up for grabs.
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On that note, based on the new format, here is a list predicting the top six teams which could finish on top of the points table after the league stage.
#6 Jaipur Pink Panthers
The last couple of seasons have not been great for the Jaipur-based franchise. However, they have a decent squad on paper for season seven. Although they might find it difficult to perform if one of their regular starters gets injured, a few dominant performances could be expected out of this team.
Deepak Niwas Hooda will yet again don the raiding responsibilities of this team which will be shared with proven performers such as Nilesh Salunke and Deepak Narwal. The core of the defense, comprising the likes of Sandeep Dhull and Amit Hooda also looks very strong. If they do well, this team has the ability to go all the way.
#5 Bengaluru Bulls
Randhir Singh is a coach who firmly believes in youth delivering for his team. This belief led the team to the trophy last season and it needs to be seen if the same philosophy works well this time around as well.
The Bulls have not made major changes to their squad as a chunk of their auction-money was spent on retaining the services of defender Mahender Singh. The retained players in Rohit Kumar, Pawan Kumar Sehrawat and Ashish Singh will form the core of this team and good performances are necessary from this trio if the team has to progress in this edition.
The major reason for the team's extraordinary performance last season was due to the performance of MVP Pawan Sehrawat. Although it is unlikely that the youngster will repeat his superb performances every single game next season, a few good games could be sufficient to take Bengaluru Bulls to the Top six from the upcoming season.
#4 Patna Pirates
Patna Pirates has been th most successful team in the competition having won the trophy thrice. A major reason for these performances has been the form of Pardeep Narwal. The youngster has time and again proved that he is the best raider in the country and if he can manage to bring out his best in season seven, Patna Pirates could be in with a good chance.
In season 6, Pardeep lacked support on the raiding front that dented the Pirates' campaign. However, with the likes of Jang Kun Lee and Mohammad Maghsodlou in the team this season, Patna Pirates have a very good chance of doing well this season.
Surender Nada and Jaideep will shore up the defense while the likes of Hadi Oshtorak will be expected to back up the big names in the team.
#3 Puneri Paltan
Season 7 could see the rise of Puneri Paltan as a fiery kabaddi outfit. They have a well-balanced squad with the experienced Anup Kumar at the helm of the team as the manager.
Nitin Tomar is one of the star-raiders of the tournament and he will yet again be the leader of the raiding department for the squad. He will be ably supported by the likes of young Manjeet and Pawan Kumar Kadian.
Girish Ernak and Surjeet Singh are proven defenders and with this trio at the core of the defense, any opposition raider will have a tough time grabbing points from Puneri Paltan. The experience of these two players will also help the team when they are struggling on the pitch.
If Puneri Paltan can stick to the basics in season 7, they could well be the dark horses of this tournament.
#2 Tamil Thalaivas
Tamil Thalaivas have failed to perform to their potential in the last two seasons but this time around, this squad will be gunning for their first ever PKL trophy.
In Ajay Thakur, Rahul Chaudhari and Manjeet Chhillar, this team has the three most experienced players in this tournament. While the raiding duties could be easily split between Thakur and Chaudhari, Manjeet Chhillar is an immense contributor to the defense unit.
Mohit Chhillar was the best buy for the team in the auctions as he has proved his worth on the right corner. Along with Ran Singh and Iran's Milad Shiebak in the defensive department, this team checks all the boxes ahead of the tournament.
The only drawback of this team is the lack of youth and if the experienced guys fail to step up, Tamil Thalaivas could also have a tough time next season.
#1 Gujarat Fortunegiants
Having finished as the runners-up in the last two seasons, Gujarat Fortunegiants will be aiming to finally get their hands on the trophy in the upcoming season. To do that, they have already forged an excellent team on paper.
All the departments of this team look strong and if they can avoid any injuries during the course of the season, the team from Gujarat could well finish on the top in PKL 2019.
Sachin Tanwar has been a good raider for this squad and he is sure to perform well again. With Rohit Gulia, Gurvinder Singh, More GB, and Abolfazl Maghsoudlou also in the squad, the raiding unit is certainly in good hands.
Sunil Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal were a part of a strong defensive core last season and these two will look to carry on their alliance to bring the trophy to the Fortunegiants in this season.
Under the tutelage of coach Manpreet Singh, the Fortunegiants can be pipped to go all the way in this edition of the Pro Kabaddi League.
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