Pro Kabaddi: With weak lineup, Tamil Thalaivas looks dependent on Pawan Sehrawat -Preview, Squad, All you need to know

India's second most watched league Pro Kabaddi League is back with its 9th edition from October 7th, 2022.

After an auction which saw records breaking left, right and centre, all the 12 franchises have a new look from the change in players to coaching personnel.

We take a look at how Tamil Thalaivas line up for the upcoming season.

READ: Pro Kabaddi: Schedule for season 9 announced

Last Season Review

Tamil Thalaivas had a season to forget last year as they finished 11th on the table. Thalaivas won only five games out of 22 and lost eleven games.

Despite having one of the best defenders of Season Sagar Rathee, Tamil Thalaivas were all over the place.

The leadership of Surjeet Singh was uninspiring and the team never played like a unit throughout the season.

One of the positives for Tamil Thalaivas was the rise of Ajinkya Pawar as a raider and Sagar Rathee as a solid defender.

PKL 9- Squad Changes

Tamil Thalaivas went for an overhaul after releasing their captain Surjeet Singh and other big names.

Tamil Thalaivas started the auction with a big move after buying the former Bengaluru Bulls captain and best raider of PKL 8, Pawan Sehrawat with the amount of Rs. 2.26 crores. But after this buy, it looked like they have no strategy after that.

Tamil Thalaivas only picked youngsters Thanushan Laxmamohan, Arif Rabbani, Vishvanath, Arpit Saroha, K Abhimanyu and Ankit.

They retained defenders Sagar Rathee, M Abhishek, Himanshu, Sahil, Himanshu Singh, Mohit, Ashish, and Jatin.

Tamil Thalaivas Full Squad-

Retained Players: Sagar, Ajinkya Ashok Pawar, Abhishek M, Himanshu, Himanshu Singh, Mohit, Ashish, Sahil, Jatin, Himanshu, and Narender.

Auction Buys: Pawan Sehrawat, Thanushan Laxmamohan, Md. Arif Rabbani, Visvanath V, Arpit Saroha, K Abhimanyu, and Ankit

PKL 9 Preview- Strength and Weakness

Strength- They have the biggest raider of PKL, Pawan Sehrawat and one of the best defenders of PKL 8 Sagar Rathee. Apart from this, they have an able support raider in Ajinkya Pawar who scored 114 points last season.

They have a good corner combination in form of Sagar and Himanshu.

Weakness- The team balance looks pretty weak for the Thalaivas. The third raider is their raiding trio is either Himanshu or Jatin or Himanshu Singh which makes it is a weak spot and the opponents will look to exploit it.

The defensive corner is sorted for Thalaivas but their cover combination is unknown with two young inexperienced defenders manning the cover side and with the raiding quality of teams like Patna Pirates, Dabang Delhi, and UP Yoddhas, it will be tough for them to stop rampant raiding units.

Tamil Thalaivas have three all-rounders but they are nowhere close to the all-rounders we have already in other teams.

All-in-all Tamil Thalaivas will either come as a surprise package for opponents or they will falter against tough teams like last season, there is no in-between for them.

Tamil Thalaivas Predicted 7 for PKL 9

Sagar Rathee (Right Corner), Himanshu (Left Corner), Ajinkya Pawar (Right In), Himanshu (Left In), M Abhishek (Right Cover), Mohit (Left Cover) and Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (Center).