Table of Contents
The three former champions had their own distinct strategies when the players went under the hammer. It will be interesting to see who executes their plans the best.
U Mumba
The season 2 champions finished in the top four in the previous seasons as they took a punt on the unestablished players and they have decided to do the same this season. Fazel Atrachali and Abhishek Singh were the star performers retained from the previous season. They have added several young players to the squad.
Unsurprisingly, the defence will be led by veteran Fazel Atrachali under whose leadership players have exceeded expectations on a regular basis in the previous seasons. U Mumba is banking on the same strategy in PKL 8.
The franchise has bet on the young duo of Abhishek Singh and V Ajith Kumar, who were the finds of the previous season. The latter was one of the finds for Tamil Thalaivas and recorded four super 10s in PKL 7. Mohsen Maghsoudlou will be one of the players to watch out for.
Squad: Abhishek Singh, V Ajith Kumar, Jashandeep Singh, Navneet, Rahul Rana, Kamlesh, Shivam, Fazel Atrachali, Harendra Kumar, Sunil Siddhagawli, Ajeet, Rinku, Prince, Baljinder Singh, Rahul, Mohsen Mghsoudlou, Ajinkya Kapre, Ashish Sangwan, Pankaj, Monu
UM has bet on their young players to perform in the upcoming season of the tournament. If the trend to unearth unknown talents continues for the team in this season, they will reach the playoffs.
Bengaluru Bulls
After finishing as champions in season 6, the Bulls qualified for the playoffs in the 2019 season. Pawan Kumar was one of the prime factors why they reached the latter stages, but sans the services of Rohit Kumar, the team will be different.
Pawan Kumar Sehrawat will continue to lead the franchise, and Chandran Ranjit, Deepak Narwal have been added to the squad in the absence of Rohit. Amit Sheoran and Saurabh Nandal will be the corners for the Bulls and will be handling the defensive responsibility for the season 6 champions.
Squad: Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Chandran Ranjit, Deepak Narwal, GB More, Abolfazl Mghsodlou, Dong Geon Lee, Rohit Sangwan, Banty, Naseeb, Mahender Singh, Amit Sheoran, Saurabh Nandal, Ziaur Rahman, Mayur Kadam, Mohit Sehrawat, Ankit, Vikas, Rohit Kumar, Vinod Naik
Pawan will be the central figure for the Bulls, and his performance will be crucial to their hopes of winning a title. The defensive unit is an impediment for the franchise, and in all likelihood, they will not reach the playoffs.
Bengal Warriors
The Warriors will be going into this season as defending champions and there will be high expectations from the franchise in the upcoming season. Maninder Singh and Esmail Nabibaksh were the big retentions for the franchise.
The attack looks settled with the addition of Rishank Devadiga, and with the retained players, the Warriors will be a gun side. However, the franchise failed to fill the void left by Jeeva Kumar, and that will be a cause of concern.
Squad: Maninder Singh, Rishank Devadiga, Sukesh Hegde, Ravindra Kumawat, Akash Pikalmunde, Anand V, Sumit Malik, Nabibakhsh, Manoj Gowda, Rohit, Abozar Mighani, Rinku Narwal, Sachin Vittala, Darshan J, Vijin Thangadurai, Rohit Banne, Parveen, Amit.
They have retained the core of the championship-winning side and have added key players like Rishank Devadiga and Abozar Mighani to their ranks. They will be favourites to finish in the top four this season.
