PKL Season 11: Jaipur Pink Panthers' SWOT analysis

Twotime Pro Kabaddi League champions Jaipur Pink Panthers will be bidding to get their hands on the prestigious PKL title again once Season 11 gets underway on October 18 One of the most consistent teams over the past two seasons and semifinalists in PKL 10 Jaipur Pink Panthers will be looking to set things right by going all the way in the upcoming campaignThey will be led by head coach Sanjeev Baliyan a twotime PKL winner who coached Patna Pirates to the coveted trophy in Season 3 before repeating the feat with Jaipur Pink Panthers in Season 9One of the most active teams at the Season 11 Player Auction Jaipur Pink Panthers bought as many as 12 players to add to their squad ahead of the new campaign With that in mind herersquos a look at the twotime championsrsquo strengths and weaknesses ahead of PKL 11StrengthsBoth Jaipur Pink Panthersrsquo raiding and defensive unit look solid on paper While Arjun Deshwal who is eighth in PKLs alltime raid points 947 charts is once again set to lead their attack the Panthers have further strengthened their attack following the additions of two experienced left raiders in Shrikant Jadhav and Vikash KandolaRaiders with lots of PKL pedigree Shrikant Jadhav has scored 681 raid points while Vikash Kandola has 800 raid points in PKL history Additionally Neeraj Narwal is another raider who can contribute significantly to the team having accumulated 175 raid points in his PKL career so far The Panthersrsquo defence also looks robust with the likes of Ankush Surjeet Singh and Reza Mirbagheri all expected to play crucial rolesAlso ReadAslam Inamdar The face of Puneri Paltanrsquos kabaddi resurgenceSecond on the alltime leaderboard for tackle points 404 Surjeet Singh is certainly a name that needs no introduction He will be looking to form a formidable defence with the likes of Ankush and Reza Mirbagheri who have scored 159 and 96 tackle points respectively in two seasons each in the PKL Ankush in fact was the best defender in Season 9 with 89 tackle points and he finished sixth on the leaderboard for tackle points 70 in PKL Season 10WeaknessesEven though their defence looks well settled on paper one area of concern for the Panthers will be the departure of excaptain Sunil Kumar who formed a core of their squad over the last few seasons and was a crucial defender as well as inspirational leader in the team While Surjeet Singh can be considered as a good replacement for the former Jaipur Pink Panthers skipper therersquos no denying the fact that Sunil Kumar has been a lot more consistent over the last few seasonsHis leadership qualities which sees him boast a 6137win percentage as captain winning 65 out of the 107 matches he captained in the league makes his absence from the Panthersrsquo team even more telling and it will be interesting to see how the twotime champions deal with Sunil Kumarrsquos departureOpportunitiesSeason 11 will also be a great opportunity for players like Neeraj Narwal Lucky Sharma and Ravi Kumar to produce impactful performances After the Panthers let go of Sahul Kumar at the Season 11 Player Auction Lucky Sharma can hope for a lot more opportunities While Lucky will be eager to step up the likes of Neeraj Narwal and Ravi Kumar will also want to make the most of their opportunitiesAfter an underwhelming campaign from a personal point of view the last time around both raider Neeraj Narwal and defender Ravi Kumar will be hoping to return to their best More than capable of taking the game to the opposition on their day Neeraj Narwal will look to add to his 175 raid points while Ravi Kumar will be keen to add to his tally of 218 tackle points in Season 11Also Read Farm to fame The PKL journey that elevated Sachin Tanwar to stardomThreatsOne potential area where Jaipur Pink Panthers could perhaps have done better in during the Season 11 Player Auction was their acquisition of allrounders Currently they have just one allrounder in their squad in the form of Aamir Wani who is yet to make his PKL debutAlthough their star raiders and defenders are likely to plug this gap and not let the Panthers feel the importance of a genuine allrounder in the team itrsquos worth mentioning that having a player who can contribute on both ends of the mat not only helps with a teamrsquos overall balance but also gives them a slight edge in close games where players with allround ability can often be the difference between teamsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever