The Pro Kabaddi League is certainly one of the most popular leagues in the world. Beginning in 2014, the tournament has seen a multitude amount of growth right from the beginning. We have seen several inspiring stories coming out of the League. All these stories are one of the major reasons why the tournament is the second most-viewed franchise league after the Indian Premier League in India.
We have seen many PKL players from the same family taking centre stage in the event. Starting from the Desai brothers, the Dharmaraj brothers to the Chhillar cousins, the list is really big. Also, each one of these players has earned a name for themselves too. However, up until the auction in 2021, we didn't head a combo like this.
In a one-of-a-Kind event, a father-son duo participated in the Pro Kabaddi League. During the 2021 auction, Delhi Dabang bought Vinay Narwal in the auction. The youngster was placed in the New Young Player (NYP) category and was auctioned under Category D.
He is the son of Delhi Dabang Skipper Joginder Narwal. Without a doubt, Joginder Narwal has been a star and has done exceptionally well for Delhi Dabang. He has featured for teams like Bengaluru Bulls, Puneri Paltan, and U Mumba before turning up for Dabang Delhi. In the PKL season 9, Joginder Narwal featured for Haryana Steelers.
Vinay Narwal followed his father's footpath and even became a defender like him. When he was picked up by Delhi Dabang, it was expected that he wouldn't get many opportunities, considering how strong the Delhi team was.
The team had some of the stalwarts on the list, including Manjeet Chhillar, Jeeva Kumar and Sandeep Narwal. Though he couldn't play as many games as he would've expected, getting selected in a franchise like Delhi Dabang is itself a big achievement for the youngster. Also, being around the stalwarts like Arjuna Awardee Sandeep Narwal was certainly a big learning experience for the youngster.
Joginder Narwal led the Delhi Dabang team to lift the trophy in the 8th edition of the Pro Kabaddi League. The father-son duo turned champions in the debut year they featured together.
Despite leading the team to the trophy, Joginder Narwal opted out of Delhi and played for Haryana Steelers in the recent edition. In fact, the experienced defender was named the captain of the team.
The retention list for the upcoming edition is yet to be announced and it will be interesting to see how it turns out. Once the retention list is out, we will have a good idea regarding the players who would feature in the auction. There is a good chance that the father-son duo might end up in the same team once again.
This time, with a bit of experience, we might even get to see them both playing in the game together. It will certainly be a story to tell in the future.
PKL 10 auction and what we know so far:
The auction for the upcoming season is likely to take place in August month, once all the national commitments of the players get over. The tournament is likely to take place in the month of November or December. While we await more details regarding the upcoming season, one can be very sure that it would be bigger than what we have witnessed so far.
