Pro Kabaddi League is making a return after a two-year break!

Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) 8 to start in Bengaluru on the evening of December 22 with a triple-header. The excitement surrounding Season 8 of the Pro Kabaddi League creates a kick-off tournament. Considerably to the delight of its countless fans, the Pro Kabaddi League is returning after a two-year break. 

Inception Story of PKL

The Pro Kabaddi League operates a franchise-based model. The league's genesis was charmed by the popularity of the Kabaddi tournament in 2006 in the Asian Games. Its first season was born in 2014, consisting of eight teams, each of which has paid an entry fee of up to US$250,000 to join the tournament. The Pro Kabaddi League rules were equivalent to that of the indoor team version of Kabaddi, but with added rules to encourage more scoring. Playing two "empty" raids in a row will trigger a "do-or-die raid," where the raider must score a point, or they will be declared out. When a defensive side has three or fewer players remaining, tackles scored are termed "Super Tackle," worth two points rather than one.

With many arising doubts over whether the PKL would be successful or not, many leagues were trying to emulate the IPL's business model and success. Unlike cricket, there were somewhat fewer well-known players in Kabaddi. However, it was also noted that Kabaddi was widely played in neighborhood sets and could thus draw a wide variety of rural and metropolitan spectators for advertisers to target if the league achieved significant traction.

Overall, the first season was watched by 43.5 crores viewers, while 8.64 crores watched the first season final between Jaipur Pink Panthers and U-Mumba. The Pro Kabaddi League's broadcaster, Star Sports, subsequently informed in 2015 that it would acquire a 74% stake in its parent company Mashal Sports. 

Here is the list of winners from seasons 1 – 7

The Jaipur Pink Panthers won the first Pro Kabaddi title in 2014. Despite losing the inaugural match of PKL, Jaipur Pink Panthers won 10 of their 14 league games to emerge as the most consistent side of PKL Season 1. The runners-up of the inaugural PKL season, U Mumba, dominated the league in the Season 2 with a stronger defensive unit.

Patna Pirates won their first Pro Kabaddi title in PKL Season 3. After a short-lived campaign with Bengaluru Bulls in Season 2, Patna Pirates' Pardeep Narwal rose to the occasion with the most raid points (116) under his belt in Season 3. Pardeep Narwal led Patna Pirates to another title in PKL Season 4 despite the departure of Rohit Kumar to Bengaluru Bulls. In the Pro Kabaddi Season 5 final, it was a one-sided affair as Patna Pirates beat Gujarat Giants 55-38. Pardeep Narwal won the title of the season's MVP on the back of some incredible stats: most raid points (369), most super raids (18), and most super 10s (19).

Bengaluru Bulls won the PKL title in Season 6 with Pawan Sehrawat, named MVP, emerging as the find of the tournament with 282 points.

The 2019 season was the seventh edition of the Pro Kabaddi League, consisting of 12 teams. Dabang Delhi and Bengal Warriors emerged as the winners in the semi-finals and qualified to the final for the first time. A collective effort from the Bengal Warriors made them PKL champions for the first time in Season 7.

8th season to make an elegant entry on Dec22

There has been an effective reshuffle of all teams, given that auctions were held this year. Let us take a quick look at all the teams and their owners of the various teams ahead of Season 8.

Bengaluru Bulls

Raiders: Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Chandran Ranjit, Deepak Narwal, GB More, Abolfazl Mghsodlou, Dong Geon Lee, Rohit Sangwan, Banty, Naseeb.

All-Rounders: Ashish Kumar, Sanjay Shrestha.

Defenders: Mahender Singh, Amit Sheoran, Saurabh Nandal, Ziaur Rahman, Mayur Kadam, Mohit Sehrawat, Ankit, Vikas, Rohit Kumar, Vinod Naik.

Kosmik Global Media, based out of Chennai, acquired ownership of Bengaluru Bulls. They are one of India's most successful media production houses specializing in producing short films and documentaries. 

Bengal Warriors

Raiders: Maninder Singh, Rishank Devadiga, Sukesh Hegde, Ravindra Kumawat, Akash Pikalmunde, Anand V, Sumit Malik.

All-Rounders: Moein Nabibakhsh, Manoj Gowda, Rohit.

Defenders: Abozar Mighani, Rinku Narwal, Sachin Vittala, Darshan J, Vijin Thangadurai, Rohit Banne, Parveen, Amit.

Birthright Games & Entertainment Private Limited comes under the Futur Group and shares an owner partnership with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar.

Dabang Delhi

Raiders: Naveen Kumar Goyat, Ajay Thakur, Sushant Sail, Emad Sadaghatina, Neeraj Narwal, Ashu Malik.

All-Rounders: Manjeet Chhillar, Sandeep Narwal, Vijay Malik, Balram.

Defenders: Joginder Narwal, Jeeva Kumar, Mohammad Malak, Sumit, Dipak, Mohit, Vikash Kumar, Vinay Narwal, Krishan.

Radha Kapoor Khanna is the only female owner in the league, and she heads this team with her company, DO IT Sports Management Company.

Gujarat Fortune Giants

Raiders: More G B, Sachin, Lalit Chaudhary, Gurvinder Singh, Abolfazl Maghsodloumahalli, Abhishek, Sonu.

All-Rounders: Rohit Gulia, Vinod Kumar, Mohammad Shazid Hossain, Pankaj.

Defenders: Amit, Sunil Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal, Sonu Gahlawat, Ruturaj Shivaji Koravi.

Gautam Adani added another feather to his long list of ventures by acquiring a new team in the Pro Kabaddi League.

Haryana Steelers

Raiders: Rohit Gulia, Vikash Khandola, Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsodlou, Vinay, Vikas Chillar.  

All-Rounders: Brijendra Singh Chaudhary, Vikas Jaglan, Hamid Mirzaei Nader, Ajay Ghanghas, Rajesh Narwal.

Defenders: Ravi Kumar, Surender Nada, Chand Singh, Rajesh Gurjar.

JSW Group has a history of owning successful sports teams in India, and the Haryana Steelers are another team in their widely successful sports cohort.

Jaipur Pink Panthers

Raiders: Arjun Deshwal, Naveen Raider, Amir Hossein Mohammadmaleki, Mohammad Amin Nosrati, Amit Nagar, Ashok, Sushil Gulia,

All-Rounders: Deepak Niwas Hooda, Vishal, Nitin Rawal, Sachin Narwal

Defenders: Sandeep Kumar Dhull, Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Amit Hooda, Amit, Shaul Kumar, Pavan TR, Elavarasan A.

Abhishek Bachchan and GS Entertainment Worldwide head the ownership and management of the Pink Panthers.

Patna Pirates

Raiders: Monu, Mohit, Rajveersinh Pratap Rao Chavan, Jangkun Lee, Prashanth Kumar Rai, Sachin, Guman Singh, Monu Goyat.

All-Rounders: Sahil Mann, Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, Sajin Chandrasekar.

Defenders: Neeraj Kumar, Sunil, Sourav Gulia, Sandeep, Shubham Shinde.

Rajesh Shah owns this team under the non-government company KVS Energy and Sports Limited.

Puneri Paltan

Raiders: Amit Kumar, Darshan Kadian, Emad Sedaghatnia, Manjeet, Nitin Tomar, Pankaj Mohite, Pawan Kumar, R. Sriram, Sushant Sail.

All-Rounders: Amit Kumar, Sagar Krishna, Sandeep.

Defenders: Surjeet Singh, Deepak Yadav, Jadhav Shahaji, Hadi Tajik, Shubham Shinde, Sanket Sawant, Girish Maruti Ernak.

Insurekot Sports manages this team based in Pune under Kailash Kandpal.

Tamil Thalaivas

Raiders: Ajay Thakur, Anand, Rahul Chaudhari, Shabber Bapu, V. Ajith Kumar, Vineet Sharma, Yashwant Bishnoi.

All-Rounders: Hemant Chauhan, Manjeet Chillar, Ran Singh, Victor Obiero, Armann, Farhad Milaghardan.

Defenders: Ajeet, M. Abishek, Ponparthiban Subramanian, Himanshu, Mohit Chillar, Sagar, Arif Rabbani.

Nimmagadda Prasad, Sachin Tendulkar, Allu Arjun, and Ram Charan all have varying ownership percentages in this team.

Telugu Titans

Raiders: Mula Siva Ganesh Reddy, Rakesh Gowda, Amit Kumar, Gurvinder Singh, Suraj Desai, Siddharth Sirish Desai, Ankit Beniwal, Kamal Singh, Rajnish, Abozar Mighani.

All-Rounders: Dewitt Jennings, Armaan, Farhad Rahimi Milaghardan.

Defenders: Vishal Bhardwaj, C. Arun, Krushna Madane, Manish, Akash Choudhary.

Greenko Group, NED Group, and Core Green Group all make up the ownership conglomerate.

U Mumba

Raiders: Dong Geon Lee, Abhishek Singh, Athul MS, Vinoth Kumar, Rohit Baliyan, Gaurav Kumar, Arjun Deshwal.

All-Rounders: Mohit Balyan, Ajinkya Rohidas Kapre, Sandeep Narwal. 

Defenders: Harsh Vardhan, Harendra Kumar, Young Chang Ko, Anil, Fazel Atrachali, Rajaguru Subramanian, Surinder Singh.

Ronnie Screwvala heads this team under Unilazer Venture Limited.

UP Yoddha

Raiders: Md. Masud Karim, Monu Goyat, Rishank Devadiga, Shrikant Jadhav, Gulliver Singh, Surender Singh, Ankush.

All-Rounders: Narender, Gurdeep, Sachin Kumar, Mohsen Maghsoudloujafari, Arkam Shaikh.

Defenders: Amit, Aashish Nagar.

GMR League Games is another heavily sports group and has taken ownership of the ace Kabaddi team representing UP.