We have already taken a look at the top raiders and defenders of the ongoing Pro Kabaddi League season 9 after the conclusion of league stage matches. Today, we will have a look at the top-5 emerging players of this season who performed well for the first time on such a big stage.
1. Bharat (Raider, Bengaluru Bulls)
Filling the shoes of a top raider in a very successful team like the Bengaluru Bulls is never easy, but Bharat this season has shown that true champions can do this task very easily. He showed his glimpses in the previous season when he played the role of supporting raider to Pawan Sehrawat but this time around he has just been exceptional. He has stepped into the shoes of Pawan and led the raiding department with support from experienced players like Vikash Khandola and Neeraj Narwal. He has collected 257 raid points this season in just 21 matches, scoring a super-10 in 15 of them. He has also made 11 super raids this season, the joint-most by any player this season.
2. Narender Kandola (Raider, Tamil Thalaivas)
Tamil Thalaivas this season hoped that their fortunes would change as they hired the services of Pawan Sehrawat at the auction. But, he, unfortunately, got injured during the first match and was ruled out for the rest of the competition. Then came Narender, a young raider, who grabbed the opportunity with both hands and became the team’s lead raider. He made sure that the team’s dream of reaching the playoffs for the first time is completed this time as he collected a total of 220 raid points from 21 matches, scoring 13 super-10s during the league stage. He has shown this season that young players can do a lot if given proper coaching and groomed properly. If Thalaivas need to stand any chance of winning the trophy, they need Narender to step up once again and finish the season on a high.
3. Parteek Dahiya (Raider, Gujarat Giants)
Another young raider who is a part of the top-10 raiders this season is Parteek Dahiya, who collected 178 raid points this season from 19 matches with 11 super-10s. He has been one of the very few positives from the Gujarat Giants campaign in PKL-09. He has been in very good form lately and tried his best to make his team reach the playoffs, but was not able to complete it. We hope to see more of him next year, as he becomes more lethal and more mature with proper training and development.
4. Ankush Rathee (Defender, Jaipur Pink Panthers)
Jaipur will be playing in the playoffs of PKL after a long time and the reason for this is their collective team performance in all the games. Just as the raiding department was led by Arjun Deshwal, the defense was led by Ankush who had a breakthrough Vivo PKL season 9. He scored a total of 81 points in 22 matches, just 3 behind the top defender, which I think he can cover easily in the playoffs. Ankush has also been involved in 77 successful tackles for his team this season and has scored the most number of high-5s by any defender this season (8). Jaipur will be hoping that he takes this form to the playoffs and make Jaipur lift the PKL trophy once again.
5. Vishal (Defender, Dabang Delhi K.C.)
Dabang Delhi’s defense has been in phenomenal form this season. There were a few big names there this time around Sandeep Dhull, Amit Hooda, Vishal, and Ravi Kumar. Vishal has been the pick of defenders for them this season as he is in the top-5 defenders’ list of PKL-09 after the group stage. He has collected 58 tackle points from 21 matches, with the help of 3 high-5s. He has earned so many points this time, despite being in the left cover position, which is never an easy position to be in on the Kabaddi mat. He is very crucial to Delhi’s chances of moving ahead into the playoffs.
There have been many other emerging players this season for different teams who have shown glimpses of their capabilities. These include players such as Sahil Gulia (defender), Guman Singh (raider), Pankaj Mohite (raider), Monu (raider), Meetu Sharma (raider), Rakesh (raider), Manjeet (raider), Anil Kumar (defender), Neeraj Narwal (raider), Mayur Kadam (defender), Aman (defender), and Shubham Shinde (defender). We hope to see more of these young players step up for their teams in difficult situations like Bharat and Narender did this time for Bengaluru Bulls and Tamil Thalaivas respectively.
