Analyzing AKFI's Senior men's Kabaddi team probables

After the completion of the 67th Senior National Kabaddi Championships in March 2020, a list of 38 male and female players each was selected by the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India as the probables for the Indian senior national Kabaddi teams. The players were selected based on their performance in the tournament and also their previous record.

Three internationally renowned coaches, Rambir Singh Khokhar, KC Suthar, and E. Bhaskaran, comprised the selection panel. The 38 Probables, included two standby players, who will take part in the national camp of AKFI and a final list of players for the Indian men's Kabaddi team will then be put out after the camp. The list of players contains some obvious inclusions while there are a couple of surprising omissions as well. Let us look at how the list looks:

Click here to see the full list of players

1. Big names included in the Probables

Players like Deepak Niwas Hooda, Pawan Sehrawat, Ravinder Pahal, Nitin Tomar, Rahul Chaudhari, Pardeep Narwal, and others big names have retained their place to be a part in the national camp. They have been a part of the Indian men's Kabaddi team in the past and have brought glory to the nation. At the last international even, South Asian Games 2019, Deepak was handed the captaincy band for the first time while Pawan was his deputy. The team went on to win the gold medal at the tournament and continue their dominance in the tournament.

2. Youngsters who have made it to the list

Maharashtra's Pankaj Mohite and Shubham Shinde, UP's Abhishek Singh, Tamil Nadu's V Ajith Kumar, and Pondicherry's Vinoth Kumar are some of the players who have made it to the nationals' probables for the first time in their careers. The youngsters have risen to prominence with their performance in the various local and national tournaments as well as Pro Kabaddi.

These players will get trained from the best of the coaches and will also get to play alongside the senior players. With the immense experience of the seniors, these new players will get to learn a lot and will be able to work on their weaknesses as well.

3. Players who missed the bus

While the list of the Probables contains the deserving candidates for the Indian jersey, there are a few players who did not make the cut. A tussle between the teams of Pondicherry and Uttar Pradesh during a league match led to many controversies. Pondicherry forfeited the match as both the teams went on to qualify for the next stage. However, did that incident not go well with the selection panel?

In the list of 36 players, only one player from Pondicherry has been selected while three players from UP have been selected. Jayakumar, who had picked up 27 raid points in the tournament has been overlooked and instead Abhishek Singh who picked up 14 raid points was selected in by the three member committee.