The PKL 8 starlets from Haryana that made all the noise

Kabaddi is a sport played by 7 individuals on each side. But when it comes to clubs/ franchise teams, you will find at least one person who hails from the state of Haryana.  

People of Haryana breathe kabaddi and live with it. The players there are trained from an early age and molded into top professionals for the Kabaddi circuit. The Pro Kabaddi stage has witnessed some of the finest gems of Haryana. Season 8 was no different with some of the youngsters of Haryana taking their senior counterparts head-on.  

They made their presence felt in both defense and attack  

The top 3 defenders from Haryana in PKL8 are as follows:- 

1. Sagar - Tamil Thalivas

Tamil Thalaivas had a solid leader at the back in the form of Surjeet the Indian national, who was capped to lead this young side started strongly but struggled for consistency in between. But his teammate had other ideas, Sagar came unannounced in PKL 8 and made the loudest noise. He started slow but under the guidance of his captain grew into the season in leaps and bounds. He played every league game where he attempted some 144 tackles and scored 82 tackle points at a success rate of 51%. He had 8 super tackles, 8 High fives, only behind Chiyaneh in the entire league.

2. Jaideep - Haryana Steelers 

Haryana Steelers focused their recruitment drive on poaching local-born players, for which the K7 platform became the ideal stage to scout youngsters off. Meetu and Jaideep were picked from K7 and started right off the bat. It looked like they have been seasoned professionals are were unfazed. Meetu had an injury that halted his progress while Jaideep was trained with no platforms to stop by. Despite having many senior players around him he led them all by his astute and strong tackles on players double his physique. His numbers proved that he is one for the future.  He scored 66 tackle points at an average of 3 successful tackles per game.

3. Saurabh Nandal - Bengaluru Bulls 

Nandal was only getting ready to start his second season but, had the big responsibility to lead his defensive unit. With the Likes of Pawan and Ranjit doing their thing in the offense, Nandal became their shining armor at the back. He was solid at the right corner and made a good partnership with his opposite side defenders in Aman who supported him well.  
Nandal's solid performance ensured the team's reached the semifinals of the PKL 8 season, scoring 69 tackle points with a 56% tackle success rate, 6 super tackles with 2 high fives. 

The top 3 Raiders from Haryana in PKL8 are as follows:-

1. Naveen Kumar - Dabang Delhi 

The expectations were high from the Naveen express after his last season exploit. He was one of the players to watch out for and started in sensational factors putting in super 10 after super, in a consistent fashion. He was in his prime off the start, causing havoc to every renowned defender but, injury mid-way halted his progress. He came back stronger scoring crucial super against the Bulls and the Pirates in the run-up to the playoffs. He ended the season with 164 touches, 43 bonuses, and 12 super 10.  These exploits saw him lift the first crown for his team.

2. Surender Gill - UP Yoddha 

Gills started the season as the support raider and did well in the earlier phase to lift his team when they were down and out. But Pradeep's continuous struggle saw him take up the mantle of the lead raider with the fight for play-off being ferocious from the get-go. The tall and lanky Gill's grits and determination were on display through the season as he wriggled past the grasps of the defenders while others would have given up in the same situation. He ended the season as his side's top scorer with 189 raid points with 7 super raids and 8 super 10s.

3. Pradeep Narwal - UP Yoddha

The record-breaker narwal had all to prove yet again. After switching the base from Patna to UP before the start of the season. With his incredible numbers, it was predicted to be a smooth transition, but all went wrong what could go wrong at the start of the season. His comeback from injury was pretty slow as he failed to get up to the speed and saw him trail behind Gill, as he lead for much of the first half of the league phase.

But he made his presence felt when Gill had a roadblock and Yoddha looked like will slip out of the playoffs. He roared back with his trademarks kicks and powered his side into the playoffs. Despite the slow start, he ended the league with 188 points just one behind his teammate gill.