PKL 2019 | 5Ws and 1H – Telugu Titans

07/09/2019

After a poor season in 2018 in spite of having some top names, Telugu Titans will look ahead to a great one in 2019. The Hyderabad-based team will have the services of the star from the last edition – Siddharth Desai – along with their new Iranian coach Gholamreza Mazandarani in PKL season 7.

How they performed in the previous season?

Telugu Titans had players like Rahul Chaudhari, Vishal Bhardwaj, and Abozar Mighani in the team in season 6 but still, they had failed miserably when it came to getting into the play-offs. The team had made a great start but lost the steam towards the end of the season and the most important reason was the failure of Chaudhari in the raiding department.

With just eight wins from 22 games in Zone B, the Titans finished at the fifth place on the table last season. They managed only 51 points and fell behind teams like Bengal Warriors and UP Yoddha whose flourish towards the end of the league stage propelled them into the next round and Titans couldn’t manage to catch the bus on that occasion.

Who are the star players for the Titans?

The signing of Siddharth Desai was the biggest thing for the Titans and the Kolhapur lad was the highest paid player in the 2019 Auctions as well. The star raider, who came to limelight in his debut season last year, grabbed Rs 1.45 crore and is the biggest attraction for the team this season. Apart from him Bhardwaj, who led the team in the last edition, and Abozar are going to lead the team in the defence this time around. Their corner combination is considered as one of the deadliest in the league and will want to leave a good mark with the Titans this time around.

Telugu Titans Squad:

Armaan, Farhad Rahimi Milaghardan, Krushna Madane, Manish, Akash Choudhary, Siddharth Desai, Abozar Mighani, Vishal Bhardwaj, Duet Jennings, Amit Kumar, C Arun, Suraj Desai, Suraj Kumar, Sombir, Mula Siva Ganesh Reddy, Rakesh Gowda

SportsCafe’s starting 7:

Centre – Siddharth Desai

Left in – Armaan

Right in – Rajnish

Left corner – Vishal Bhardwaj

Right corner – Abozar Mighani

Left cover – C Arun

Right cover – Farhad Milaghardan

What is their strength?

The Titans had appointed former U Mumba coach Gholamreza Mazandarani ahead of the auctions in April and he decided to go all-out at the auctions for Desai. Although they will have an impact raider like Desai in the team, their defence still remains the biggest positive for the Titans ahead of the seventh season. The corner combination of Bhardwaj in the left and Abozar in the right is going to be really dangerous for the opposition raiders. They have another Iranian Farhad Milaghardan at the right cover position which makes their defence even stronger.

With a good number of Iranians in the squad, the communication between Mazandarani and the players will be good positive for the side as well. They can together bring in the Iranian style of kabaddi which has made their national side stronger in the past couple of years.

Where they can fall behind from other teams?

The lack of a proper raider apart from Desai is the biggest drawback for the Titans going into the seventh season of the popular league. They might give Armaan and Rajnish starts in the first few matches but Desai will lack good support when it comes to the raiding department.

Desai was also injury prone in the previous edition and it remains to be seen whether he plays in the entire season this time. If at all he fails to maintain his fitness in the three-month-long season, then the Titans think-tank will have to figure out a proper raider who can take up the mantle in his absence.

Why one should support Telugu Titans?

The team might lose out on some support after they decided to leave out Raid Machine of PKL - Chaudhari - from the team for the seventh season of the league. However, Desai has also got a good fan following after his dream first season in the league. He was the star for U Mumba and as discussed earlier in this article, he might turn out to be a game changer for the Titans as well. Not only that, Desai can attract a good number of crowd for the Telugu Titans game as well. Although the Titans have never gone into the finals of the PKL, they certainly have the ability to turn things around this time.

When they will play their games?

The PKL 7 is all set to start from the home of the Titans – Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad. They had played their home leg at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Vizag last year but this time, they are going to play their first game of the season at their home in Hyderabad. The game between Telugu Titans and U Mumba is the inaugural match of the season as well. They will next take on Tamil Thalaivas in the South Indian Derby on 21st before meeting Dabang Delhi and Patna Pirates in their next home games.

Schedule:

20 July vs U Mumba in Hyderabad

21 July vs Tamil Thalaivas in Hyderabad

24 July vs Dabang Delhi in Hyderabad

26 July vs Patna Pirates in Hyderabad

2 August vs UP Yoddha in Mumbai

8 August vs Bengaluru Bulls in Patna

11 August vs Gujarat Fortunegianst in Ahmedabad

12 August vs Bengal Warriors in Ahmedabad

18 August vs Haryana Steelers in Chennai

24 August vs Jaipur Pink Panthers in Delhi

30 August vs Puneri Paltan in Delhi

2 September vs Tamil Thalaivas in Bengaluru

6 September vs Bengaluru Bulls in Bengaluru

13 September vs U Mumba in Kolkata

16 September vs Dabang Delhi in Pune

20 September vs Patna Pirates in Pune

25 September vs Bengal Warriors in Jaipur

27 September vs Jaipur Pink Panthers in Jaipur

3 October vs Puneri Paltan in Panchkula

4 October vs Haryana Steelers in Panchkula

7 October vs Gujarat Fortunegiants in Greater Noida

9 October vs UP Yoddha in Greater Noida