Haryana Steeler has retained raiders Vikas Kandola, Vinay and Vikas Chillar. Vikas Kandola is a specialist raider to take the opposition from 3 defenders to an All-Out and this puts him in the league of the top raiders. With Vinay and Vikas Kandola the mainstays of their raiding department are sorted. However, their entire defense is yet to be constructed. They are in a similar boat to Dabang Delhi, so expect both these teams to go head to head for a lot of their key defensive positions. In PKL7, both these teams had veterans Joginder and Dharmaraj leading their units. Will Steelers use FBM for their Bhishma? Cheralathan on the other hand has played for 6 different franchises in the past 7 seasons.
FOLLOW : Pro Kabaddi 8 Auctions LIVE
The big surprise has been how they released both their corners - Sunil who played most games for them in the Right Corner and Kuldeep who was manning their Left Corner in the absence of Anna. Their big weakness last season was how their defense fell apart in quite a few games. They were a terrible defensive unit with covers Vikas Kale and Ravi Kumar leaking points and their raiders carried them through. However, whenever the defense worked it was Anna managing the mat.
To retain their raiding trio of last season they will hope to FBM back Prashant Kumar Rai and Naveen Bazzad. Will they FBM any of their defenders or will they build a completely new defensive unit?
Railways man and one of India's best all-rounders Rakesh Kumar will continue as the coach for the Steelers. His preference for Railways' players will not come as a surprise, whether it is an FBM on Dharmaraj Cherlathan, Prashant Kumar Rai or Naveen Bazzad.
READ MORE: Vikas Kandola Brilliant Raids | Haryana Steelers
Purse left: 312 Lakhs for at least 14 players
Retained Players :
1. Lead Raider and Captain, Vikas Kandola (202 points, 86.5 Lakhs)
2. Raider, Vinay (128 points, 25 Lakhs)
3. Raider, Vikas Chillar
4. Right Cover, Chand Singh
Likely FBM Candidates :
2. Dharamaraj Cheralathan (43 points)
3. Prashant Kumar Rai (91 points)
Dhanya
Love sports, especially street sports. What better than working and thinking about Kabaddi. Been a part of Kabaddi Adda since it was just a concept. In another avatar, I'm a neuroscientist.
