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Former Pro Kabaddi League champions Dabang Delhi KC will start their PKL 11 campaign against Sunil Kumar-led U Mumba on October 18. The Delhi-based franchise finished third in the PKL 10 points table despite Naveen Kumar's absence for a major part of the tournament.
Naveen has completely recovered from his injury now and is back in the Delhi squad. In Naveen's absence last season, Ashu Malik stepped up and not only did a phenomenal job as the main raider but also led the team brilliantly. Hence, the Delhi team management has named Naveen and Ashu as co-captains for PKL 11.
Delhi have also added some exciting talents like Siddharth Desai, Himanshu Narwal, Brijendra Singh Choudhary, Rinku Narwal and Rahul to their squad. Before the Dabangs take the mat in PKL 11, here's a list of three reasons why they can win the championship this year.
#1 Dabang Delhi KC is home to the most explosive raiding trio in PKL 11
Quite a few franchises have a solid raiding pair in Pro Kabaddi League season 11, but Dabang Delhi KC have three game-changers in their raiding unit. The Delhi-based franchise retained their star raiders Ashu Malik and Naveen Kumar ahead of the auction.
Then, at the auction table, the Dabangs roped in 'Bahubali' Siddharth Desai, who can single-handedly win matches for his team. Desai has been one of the most dangerous raiders in PKL history.
If Desai and Naveen manage their fitness well, they can prove to be a lethal unit along with Ashu Malik, who was the most consistent raider of season 10. Pro Kabaddi fans have been eagerly waiting to witness this trio together on the mat.
#2 Reliable young corner duo
Delhi retained their young corner pair of Ashish Malik and Yogesh Dahiya ahead of the Pro Kabaddi 2024 Auction. They let go of seasoned campaigner Vishal Bhardwaj.
The decision to retain Ashish and Yogesh made sense because of their excellent performance in season 10. While Yogesh won the Emerging Player of the Season award for earning 74 tackle points, Ashish replaced Vishal in the team and finished with 48 tackle points in 19 games.
Considering that Ashish and Yogesh will have much more experience under their belts in season 11, they can guide the Dabangs to their second trophy.
#3 Dabang Delhi KC have 3 quality all-rounders in their squad
All-rounders are quite underrated in kabaddi, but they often prove to be the difference between winning and losing. Each team aims to have one quality all-rounder in their squad. Dabang Delhi KC have managed to rope in three talented all-rounders for PKL 11.
The first is Nitin Panwar, who will likely play as the right cover. Panwar showed a lot of promise during his stint with the UP Yoddhas, just like Brijendra Singh Choudhary, who is returning to PKL as a part of Delhi for the first time since 2021, where he earned 28 points in seven games for Jaipur Pink Panthers.
Another talented all-rounder present in the Delhi squad is Ashish, who has scored over 150 points across the last two seasons. With a fiery trio of raiders, reliable corner defenders and quality all-round trio, Delhi are undoubtedly among the favorites to win PKL 11.
