Image Credit: Snehal Jeevan Pailkar (shutterstock.com)
The Pro Kabaddi League has already kicked off on October 18, 2024, and even if we’re only a few weeks in, all teams are already giving quite the performances. Still leading this year is Puneri Paltan, which is also the defending champion. They won last year’s PKL against the Haryana Steelers during the final.
Interestingly, UP Yoddhas is also off to a great start this season. This can come off as a surprise to some as last year, they didn’t even make it to the eliminators and placed 10th on the ladder.
These two teams are leading the 1st leg of the PKL 2024, so it’s understandable if many Kabaddi fans out there are mostly considering placing their wagers on these top 2 teams. But before you do, it’s best to check kabaddi match prediction hints so you’re more aware of how likely they’ll remain top teams this season. Just in case you’re not in the know, here’s a look at the latest team stats:
| Team | GP | W | L | D | PD | Pts |
| Puneri Paltan | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 34 | 19 |
| UP Yoddhas | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 16 |
| Tamil Thaliavas | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 14 |
| Jaipur Pink Panthers | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 13 |
| Dabang Delhi | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | -1 | 13 |
| Bengal Warriors | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 12 |
| Telugu Titans | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | -39 | 11 |
| Haryana Steelers | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -9 | 10 |
| U Mumba | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 8 |
| Gujarat Titans | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -8 | 7 |
| Patna Pirates | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -15 | 6 |
| Bengaluru Bulls | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | -46 | 6 |
Updated as of October 30, 2024
A Look at Puneri Paltan’s Lineup and Recent Performances
Puneri Paltan sitting on top of the ladder early start of the season is probably expected. During the October 19 match against the Haryana Steelers, the end score was 35-25, and this was when they were able to showcase how strong their lineup still is. This is especially true with the likes of Goyat and Inamdar.
On their next match against Patna Pirates on October 21, they continued their winning streak. Unfortunately, they struggled against Tamil Thalaivas which ended their 14-match unbeaten streak. They were able to bounce back on their next match with Bengaluru Bulls though with an impressive 36-22 end point.
Here’s a look at Puneri Paltan’s latest lineup:
Aslam Inamdar (c), Abinesh Nadarajan, Gaurav Khatri, Aditya Shinde, Akash Shinde, Mohit Goyat, Pankaj Mohite, Sanket Sawant, Dadaso Pujari, Nitin, Tushar Adhavade, Vaibhav Kamble, Mohit, Amir Hassan Noroozi, Ali Hadi, Aman, Ajith V Kumar, Mohd. Amaan, Aryavardhan Navale, Vishal, Sourav.
UP Yoddhas 2024 Team and Recent Matches
As mentioned, many are probably impressed with UP Yoddha’s performances so far. They did make a few strategic changes this season to improve their gameplay this year. They brought in several new players, including Bharat Hodda, Bhavani Rajput, Sahul Kumar, and Heidarali Ekrami. These players were acquired through aggressive bidding in the PKL auction.
They also retained players like Surender Gill and Ashu Singh. This makes sense because Gil was a standout performer for UP Yoddhas in PKL 2023. He finished the season with 140 raid points from 14 games, including six Super Raids and eight Super 10s. Meanwhile, Singh also came out strong last year. He made 328 tackles which earned him 147 tackle points over the course of the season last year.
So far, some of the standout performers of the team are Surender Gill and Bharat Hooda. During their match against Bengaluru Bulls, Hooda scored 15 raid points, and in the match against Bengal Warriors, Hooda impressively scored 21 raid points. So far, he already has a 68% raid strike rate and has earned 40 total points in just 4 matches played.
Here’s a look at UP Yoddha’s latest lineup:
Surender Gill (c), Sumit, Ashu Singh, Gagana Gowda HR, Hitesh, Shivam Chaudhary, Bharat Hooda, Sahul Kumar, Jayesh Mahajan, Gangaram, Sachin, Keshav Kumar, Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi, Heidarali Ekrami, Mahender Singh, Bhavani Rajput, Vivek, and Akshay R Suryawanshi.
Conclusion
So far, only the Leg 1 schedule has already been officially announced. The schedules are already available for matches until November 9, 2024. Puneri Paltan is still scheduled for more matches against teams including U Mumba (November 3, 2024), Gujarat Giants (Nov. 4), and Telugu Titans (Nov. 9).
Meanwhile, UP Yoddhas are also scheduled to play against Haryana Steelers (Oct. 30), Patna Pirates (Nov 2), and Jaipur Pink Panthers (Nov.5). All their matches during the 1st leg of the PKL will still be held at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad. No official schedule for the 2nd leg yet, but the matches for these will be played at the Noida Indoor Stadium.
