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Two-times finalist Gujarat Giants target their maiden crown
After reaching the finals in Season 5 and 6 (their inaugural two seasons), Gujarat Giants will look to better their performance in Season 9. In their Season 8 campaign, the team saw 4 games tied; a crucial factor hampering their chances to play in the final as they couldn’t get past the Eliminator clash. However, in the vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 9 Player Auction, they focused on a well-balanced combination of raiders & defenders.
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A well-versed Attack
With Rakesh at the core, Gujarat Giants retained as many as six raiders going into the bidding. While Rohan Singh and Parteek Dhaiya were retained as NYPs (New Young Players), Chandran Ranjit will likely be the key to the team’s fortunes. The Chennai-born player who last played for Bengaluru Bulls is the team’s most expensive raider at ₹30 lakhs. With over 408 total raid points to his name, this will be Chandran Ranjit’s comeback to Gujarat Giants after five years as he also played for the team in Season 5.
His raiding duo will likely be Pardeep Kumar for whom the team used their FBM card to get him for ₹25 lakhs. Pardeep Kumar was prolific with his debut the previous season garnering 75 raid points. Gujarat Giants also utilized their FBM card to get back the Maharashtra raider Mahendra Rajput. The veteran raider accumulated 145 total raid points playing for the team. The management also managed to bring back Dong Lee who last played for the side in 2018. His buy at ₹20 lakhs signals the team’s faith in the South Korean national.
Going BIG with Defenders and All-Rounders
The team’s never-ending love for defenders was showcased in the Player Auction. They went big for right-corner defender Baldev Singh who was picked for ₹21.50 lakhs while Rinku Narwal’s services were snapped for ₹40 lakhs. Both bring in a vast experience playing for Puneri Paltan and Bengal Warriors in the previous seasons. Also, to boost the left-corner would be Sandeep Kandola who will be seen in the Gujarat Giants jersey after featuring for Telugu Titans earlier. For left-cover, they have options in Vinod Kumar and Ujjval Singh. Opponents will be wary of short but sturdy cover defender Young Chang Ko from South Korea who was a part of the national side that gave the Indian team a major upset in the opening fixture of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup.
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Gujarat Giants invested heavily in all-rounders Shankar Gadai and Arkam Shaikh. The duo from Maharashtra were picked for ₹30.30 lakhs and ₹32.10 lakhs each. As a backup to them would be Rohan Singh who is yet to make a debut in vivo Pro Kabaddi.
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