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Pro Kabaddi 2024 auction concluded last Friday in Mumbai. The two-day event saw several kabaddi stars bag deals from the 12 PKL franchises. As always, raiders took home the biggest contracts from the Pro Kabaddi Auction.
This year's most expensive player was raider Sachin Tanwar, who received a contract worth ₹2.15 crore from the Tamil Thalaivas. Besides, star Indian raider Pawan Sehrawat returned to the Telugu Titans for a whopping ₹1.725 crore, while Guman Singh bagged an enormous ₹1.97 crore deal from the Gujarat Giants.
In this listicle now, we will rank all 12 teams of PKL based on their raiding lineup in the tournament.
#12 UP Yoddhas
The absence of Pardeep Narwal will hurt UP Yoddhas a lot in Pro Kabaddi season 11. They retained Surender Gill, but he has had injury issues in the past. The team's new Iranian recruit Heidarali Ikrami managed only 17 points in 10 matches last season.
Even the Yoddhas' most expensive signing Bharat Hooda's numbers declined significantly in season 10. Rising stars Gagan Gowda and Bhavani Rajput will be present as the supporting raider options for the team.
#11 U Mumba
Season two champions U Mumba do not have the strongest raid attack of the season, but if the raiders play to their full potential, they can trouble any defensive unit. U Mumba's main raider will once again be Iran's Mohammadamir Zafardanesh.
Supporting him in the attack will be tall raider Manjeet Dahiya, who is a veteran of PKL. The rest of the raid unit does not look so experienced, but Shivam Thakur and Satish Kannan can support the main raiders well.
#10 Patna Pirates
Three-time champions Patna Pirates have shown faith in young Indian raiders and a seasoned international star for the upcoming season. They retained the young duo of Sudhakar M and Sandeep Kumar, who were quite impressive in season 10.
To strengthen the raid attack, Patna bought back their Korean star Jang Kun Lee, who will play his first season after 2019. Supporting the trio of Lee, Kumar and Sudhakar will be Meetu Sharma, who has done a decent job as a support raider for his previous PKL teams. Overall, Patna have a decent raid attack on paper.
#9 Bengal Warriorz
Bengal Warriorz have PKL's most consistent raider in the form of Maninder Singh in their squad. The Warriorz wisely used the FBM card to re-sign their star raider at the Pro Kabaddi 2024 Auction.
Maninder also has decent backup in Pranay Rane and Nitin Dhankar. However, the lack of an experienced left raider could hurt the Warriorz in season 11. They only have Arjun Rathee and Akash Chavan as left raiders. Both of them do not have enough PKL experience under their belts.
#8 Haryana Steelers
Manpreet Singh's Haryana Steelers retained their top two raiders from last season - Vinay Tewathia and Shivam Patare. The release of Siddharth Desai will hurt the Steelers' raid unit because he had the ability to turn the matches in the matter of a few raids.
Haryana spent ₹2.07 crore to acquire Mohammadreza Shadloui at the Pro Kabaddi 2024 Auction. It will be interesting to see how he performs alongside Vinay and Shivam.
#7 Telugu Titans
Telugu Titans once again spent an enormous amount of money to sign Pawan Sehrawat at the auction. On paper, it looks like the team's raid attack will be reliant on the Hi-Flier once again.
Vijay Malik had a disappointing season with the UP Yoddhas last season. Manjeet Sharma and Sanjeevi S have shown promise, but they will have to be quite consistent to ensure Pawan does not come under too much pressure.
#6 Tamil Thalaivas
Tamil Thalaivas' decision to let go of Ajinkya Pawar raised many eyebrows because he was the team's main raider in the initial games when Narender Kandola struggled. While Narender made a splendid comeback, Ajinkya played the supporting raider's role to perfection.
To make up for Ajinkya's absence, the Thalaivas splurged ₹2.15 crore and signed Sachin Tanwar, one of the most consistent performers in PKL history. If Sachin and Narender maintain their fitness, the Thalaivas can achieve enormous success. However, the lack of depth in experienced raiding options can hurt them in a long season.
#5 Bengaluru Bulls
Season eight champions Bengaluru Bulls grabbed the headlines when they signed Pardeep Narwal at the Pro Kabaddi 2024 Auction. The Bulls roped in Pardeep for ₹70 lakh, and now coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat will have to bring the best out of him.
Pardeep did not have the best stint with UP Yoddhas, which is why Bengaluru have also kept decent backup options in Ajinkya Pawar, Jai Bhagwan and Jatin Phogat.
#4 Gujarat Giants
Two-time finalists Gujarat Giants retained their main raiding duo of Parteek Dahiya and Rakesh HS before the Pro Kabaddi Auction. They re-signed Iranian all-rounder Mohammad Nabibakhsh and acquired Guman Singh's services for a whopping ₹1.97 crore.
If Guman maintains his fitness, he can wreak havoc in PKL 11 along with Parteek and Rakesh. The addition of Monu Sandhu and Himanshu Tushir will give more options to coach Ram Mehar Singh.
#3 Puneri Paltan
Defending champions Puneri Paltan stand third on this list. In Aslam Inamdar, Mohit Goyat and Pankaj Mohite, Pune have one of the deadliest raiding trios in PKL history.
To make things worse for the opposition defenders, Pune also have Akash Shinde and Aditya Shinde in their ranks. The defending champions added more muscle to their raiding department by roping in Tamil Nadu's underrated star V Ajith Kumar.
#2 Jaipur Pink Panthers
Two-time winners Jaipur Pink Panthers retained their star raider Arjun Deshwal ahead of the Pro Kabaddi 2024 Auction. While the Pink Panthers could not re-sign V Ajith Kumar at the auction, they signed a couple of talented left raiders in Shrikant Jadhav and Vikash Kandola.
Shrikant and Vikash have the potential to lead a raid attack, but they will likely play the support raider's role to Arjun. The likes of Neeraj Narwal, Navneet Sehrawat and Amirhossein Mohammad Maleki are present as backup options in Jaipur's stellar raid lineup for Pro Kabaddi season 11.
#1 Dabang Delhi KC
Dabang Delhi KC have assembled one of the strongest raiding lineups in Pro Kabaddi League history. The season eight champions retained season 10's best raider Ashu Malik along with captain Naveen Kumar, who has been a consistent performer.
At the Pro Kabaddi 2024 Auction, Delhi roped in 'Bahubali' Siddharth Desai. On his day, Desai can win matches single-handedly for his team. The Dabangs also have fantastic support raiders in Vinay Redhu, Ashish Narwal and Himanshu Narwal.
