Pro Kabaddi Season 7 Format: The most hyped Pro Kabaddi League Season 7 will kick-start from 20th July this month. The tournament consisting of 12 teams, will follow a double round-robin format for the upcoming season. Each team will play the other team twice during the course of the tournament with the 6 best teams making it to the play-offs.
The last two seasons, Pro Kabaddi Season 4 and Season 5 had a different format in which the teams were divided into two zones, namely Zone A and Zone B. This year the format has seen a change in which shall allow all teams with a greater chance to progress, but a bigger challenge to be more consistent as well.
First four seasons also witnessed a somewhat similar format, however, in Pro Kabaddi Season 5 and Season 6, due to the introduction of four new teams, Zonal division was introduced. The only change from Pro Kabaddi Season 1 being that there the top 4 teams directly played the semi-final and then the final, but here a new play-off format will be followed rewarding the top 2 teams in the Group stage.
In the double Round-Robin format, all the teams will have fair chances to qualify for the playoffs as they will face each other two times during the course of the tournament.
All the home teams will get 4-days rest before and after their home legs, giving them a good amount of rest.
The systematic part of the fixtures is that by the half-way mark of the season, all the teams would have played an equal number of games.
The teams finishing in the top six will qualify for the play-offs. The top two teams will directly qualify for the semi-finals.
Play-offs
Eliminator Round:
In Eliminator-1, the 3rd position team will lock horns with the 6th position team.
In Eliminator 2, the 4th position will play against the 5th position team.
Semi-Finals:
Semi-final 1- The winner of the Eliminator 1 will face the 1st ranked team of the league rankings.
Semi-final 2- The winner of the Eliminator 2 will meet the 2nd ranked team of the league rankings.
The round-robin format is the most prevalent format across all the sports played throughout the world. Popular contests such as Indian Premier League, FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship and various other sports follow this format.
The major advantage of the double round-robin format is that one or two bad performances need not ruin a competitor’s chance of ultimate victory. Final records of participants are more accurate, in the sense that they represent the results over a longer period against the same opposition, meaning the more consistent side’s progress.
The season opener starts with Telugu Titans and U Mumba take on each other on the mat.
The second game that is the most anticipated match of the tournament will see defending champions Bengaluru Bulls face the three-time former champions Patna Pirates.
