INDIAN ACES: Mix of experience & youth make Puneri Paltan fierce contenders in PKL 2017

THE PUNERI PALTAN, one of the two teams from Maharashtra, had seasons to forget in the first and the second edition of the Pro Kabaddi League. After languishing at the bottom of the points table in the initial seasons, the franchise owned by Insurekot Sports, delivered a significant performance to finish third. Subsequently, they delivered another impressive performance to finish fourth in PKL-4.

Ahead of the players’ auction this year, the Paltans stunned everyone by not retaining their captain Manjeet Chillar. Pune decided to go with Deepak Niwas Hooda as a retained player. They also appointed the young lad to lead the team from the front. During the PKL-5 auction, the franchise built a formidable all-round squad around Hooda. 

The Paltans appointed BC Ramesh as chief coach and Ashok Shinde as the mentor of the 18-member squad. Pune is set to play their first game against U Mumba at Hyderabad on July 28. With close to a week for the season 5, let us take a closer look at some of the Indian talent in the Paltan squad.