New Delhi: Haryana Steelers head coach Manpreet Singh has backed his team’s young players to perform well in the upcoming Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 12, which is set to begin at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Vizag on August 19.
Four cities are set to host the 108 league-stage matches, with Vizag staging from August 29 to September 11, Jaipur from September 12 to 28, Chennai from September 29 to October 12, and Delhi from October 13 to 23.
The tournament will start with Telugu Titans taking on Tamil Thalaivas, followed by Bengaluru Bulls facing Puneri Paltan in the second clash of the opening day.
Defending champions Haryana Steelers will kick off their campaign on August 31 with a match against Bengal Warriors.
All eyes will be on players like Aslam Inamdar, Arjun Deshwal, Pawan Sehrawat, Vijay Malik, Mohammadreza Shadloui, and Naveen Kumar, as the new season promises thrilling kabaddi action.
‘Young players are performing better’
Speaking at the PKL pre-season Media Day at JioStar with News9Sports, Manpreet talked about the auction strategy, stating that they have tried to build a balanced team in both defence and raiding, with enough experience in both departments.
He also said that the platform is meant for young players, as they bring a lot of passion and energy to the game, while experienced players contribute with their skills.
“When we go into the auction, we try to build a balanced team, both in defence and raiding, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. An experienced player like Naveen has joined the team; our raiding was already very strong, and now with Naveen’s addition and experience, our raiding becomes even better. So, there were no problems in raiding before, and now there definitely aren’t any,” Manpreet told News9sports.
“As for defence, Rahul Sethpal and Jaideep Kuldeep Dahiya have played continuously for the last two seasons, and this will be their third season with the team. Along with them, you’ll see two young players — one replacing Sanjay at the cover position and one at the left corner in place of Shantanu. So the team is well-balanced in both raiding and defence.
“As BC bhai (BC Ramesh, head coach Bengaluru Bulls) just said, young players are performing better and I completely agree with that because this platform is meant for new talent. While experienced players use their skills, young players bring greater passion and energy to the game,” Manpreet added.
In a bid to defend their title, Haryana Steelers have added attacking raider Naveen Kumar to their line-up. The defending champions retained most of their title-winning squad and is a favourite team to clinch back-to-back championships.