Puneri Paltan team players for Pro Kabaddi 2017, Season 5

Owned by Insurekot Sports Ltd., the Puneri Paltan’s story through the course of the tournament has been akin to a dying flame that rekindles and then mellows down. They had a disappointing start in Pro Kabaddi with two successive bottom of the table finishes in the first two editions.

Then with a few good picks ahead of the third instalment which included the likes of Manjeet Chhillar, Deepak Hooda and Ajay Thakur, the team went on to finish third in the competition after beating the Bengal Warriors in the 3rd-4th place play-off match.

Next season, they had similar fortunes as they reached the semifinals once again and finished in third place at the end of the season.

For the fifth season, Puneri Paltan chose to retain their young all-rounder Deepak Niwas Hooda who had been all but spectacular for them in the last two seasons. A swift raider with his running hand touches and an able defender, with a respectable tackle rate, Deepak will prove to be the key difference in this team’s success story.

Subsequently, on Day One of the auctions, Pune owners roped in the services of yet another all-rounder Sandeep Narwal who will lead the defensive charge for the team and only come in to raid when he has to bail the team out of trouble as was seen in his run with the Telugu Titans

To fill in the gaps of experience, Pune also sought the services of the 43-year old defender Dharmaraj Cheralathan and raider Rajesh Mondal, both of whom won the title last year with the Patna Pirates.

Key transfers:

1. Sandeep Narwal: Adding this player in the team’s roster will bolster not only the confidence but also the overall performance of the team. Picked for 66 lakhs, Sandeep will be raring to prove his worth like in the past, as is evident with his numbers, 161 tackle points and 171 raid points from his 62 matches.

2. Dharmaraj Cheralathan: Not only will the veteran player play a key role in the defence but also be responsible for leading the charge for the team probably in the capacity of a captain for the Maharashtra side.

Complete Squad:

Deepak Niwas Hooda	Raider
Rajesh Mondal	Raider
Rohit Kumar Chaudhary	Raider
Akshay Jadhav	Raider
More GB	Raider
Umesh Mhatre	Raider
Suresh Kumar	Raider
Girish Ernak	Defender
Dharmaraj Cheralathan	Defender
Mohammad Ziaur Rehman	Defender
Sandeep Narwal	All-Rounder
Ravi Kumar	All-Rounder
Takamitsu Kono	All-Rounder
Ajay	All-Rounder
Narender Hooda	All-Rounder