Tamil Thalaivas SWOT Analysis: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats for Thalaivas in PKL 11

After a below-par campaign last time around, Tamil Thalaivas will be raring to put ir best foot forward once Season 11 of Pro Kabdi League gets underway on October 18. Thalaivas failed to make it past league st last season having qualified for semi-finals in Season 9.

It goes without saying that y will be keen to return to PKL 11 Playoffs under guidance of a dual-coach system. For Season 11, Tamil Thalaivas have appointed Udaya Kumar as he coach and Dharmaraj Cheralathan - a former PKL winner as a player - as strategy coach to guide team in a collaborative manner.

Having alrey retained ir core squ from previous campaign, Tamil Thalaivas weren’t busiest at Season 11 Player Auction table although y did make most expensive purchase by signing raider Sachin for a whopping INR 2.15 crores. With that in mind, let’s take a look at strengths and weaknesses of Tamil Thalaivas before action begins in Season 11.

Strengths

Thalaivas’ biggest strength in Season 11 is likely to be fact that y’ve mand to retain most of ir key players from previous campaign. Narender, who has picked up 429 raid points in two seasons with Thalaivas, will once again play a crucial role in attack for team.

In dition, acquisition of Sachin, who has accumulated 952 raid points in his PKL career and is league's all-time leing scorer of do-or-die raid points (233), makes it easy to see how formidable Thalaivas’ raiding unit looks on paper. Furrmore, ir backup raiders, such as Vishal Chahal, who scored 34 raid points in his PKL debut for Thalaivas last season, along with experienced Chandran Ranjit, who has tched up 534 raid points, furr strengn ir attack.

Tamil Thalaivas have also ensured continuity in defence by retaining Sagar, M. Abishek, Sahil Gulia, Himanshu, Mohit, and Amirhossein Bastami. Sahil Gulia and Sagar finished among top 10 tackle points scorers in PKL 10, with 69 and 66 tackle points respectively.

Weaknesses

That said, it will be interesting to see how likes of M. Abishek, Himanshu, Mohit and Amirhossein Bastami cope, should re be an injury to or loss in form for ir main defenders Sahil Gulia and Sagar.

Sagar’s absence from team due to injury for a few matches last season affected Thalaivas’ overall defensive performance and balance. As a result, onus and scrutiny on Thalaivas’ backup defenders will be greater this time around, making it imperative for m to step up and deliver should a similar situation arise.

Opportunities

Alrey recognised as one of league’s premier raiders, Sachin is just 48 raid points away from completing 1000 in PKL. He will look to establish himself as one of elite raiders in Season 11 after a couple of inconsistent showings over last couple of campaigns compared to his lofty standards.

He will be hoping to breach 200 raid points mark in a season for first time in his career in upcoming campaign and finds himself in ideal environment to do so with young Narender alongside him to shoulder raiding responsibilities - a luxury t always afforded to him in past.

Threats

One area that Tamil Thalaivas would be wary about is ir lack of an established all-rounder with PKL experience in team. All-rounders are crucial due to balance y bring to team courtesy of ir ability to chip in with points on both ends of mat. Iranian Moein Safaghi is yet to play in PKL and putting all pressure on him as Tamil Thalaivas’ sole all-rounder could prove to be difficult for a player yet to make his debut.

If one of Thalaivas’ starting players is unavailable due to injuries or kcks, a quality all-rounder would have been perfect replacement. However, Tamil Thalaivas will have to look for different solutions if such a situation arises considering fact that Season 11 will be Moein Safaghi’s debut campaign.