In cricket-crazy India, kabaddi is making waves.
So a lot so, that in a latest Tamil Thalaivas vs U Mumba match, an unprecedented incident — of a spectator breaching the play space to cheer a participant — occurred for the primary time within the historical past of the league. It indicators the rising recognition of the game amongst audiences throughout the nation.
Pro Kabaddi League, in its twelfth version at the moment, has taken the game from the muddy grounds of rural India to the comfortable confines of city drawing rooms, the place, each night, audiences get a style of adrenaline-filled kabaddi motion that features squat thrusts and chain deal with.
PKL 2025, at the moment on in Chennai, has launched loads of recent expertise. We meet up with three gamers and uncover their tales:
Deepak Sankar of Bengaluru Bulls
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Deepak Sankar
Bengaluru Bulls
The Back Hold and Ankle Hold are extremely specialised strikes in kabaddi. It entails a defender gripping a raider’s again or ankle with a view to cease them from advancing.
Deepak Sankar is aware of a factor or two about these strikes that require exact timing, anticipation and positioning. It is popping out to be his USP amongst his teammates within the ongoing PKL 2025. “Fanfare and hype for televised kabaddi matches was low a few years ago. Now, it has picked up, both with the number of players and audiences. Like cricket, kabaddi also has immense reach today, even in Tamil Nadu.”
Much like how cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin picked the now-popular sodakku ball (carrom ball) from the streets of Chennai, Deepak picked these explicit signature strikes when he performed along with his pals within the fields of Kattur village in Tiruchi. “We wouldn’t play a lot of cricket back in my hometown. My childhood was filled with summers playing kabaddi; it was a lot of fun,” recollects the sportsman, who additionally had good showings in latest Senior National tournaments and the Yuva Series.
Though he represents the Bengaluru staff within the PKL, the truth that he’s a neighborhood Tamil boy has drawn plenty of Chennai followers. When Deepak walks out to play, there’s applause from the group, each reside and people watching TV again house. “Many younger boys from my town message me, wanting to practise with me. I tell them to practise as much as possible, and also participate in local tournaments to gain match experience,” says Deepak, who considers Iranian kabaddi participant Fazel Atrachali and cricket famous person Virat Kohli as his inspirations.
Aya Lochchab of Patna Pirates
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Ayan Lohchab
Patna Pirates
When Ayan Lochab headed house final 12 months publish a profitable debut season at PKL, youngsters got here working to him. At Bupania village in Haryana’s Jhajjar district, Ayan is a hero to locals, who watch him play kabaddi on tv, a sport that they have been used to enjoying solely on the village’s mud courts.
Armed with a New Young Player Award from final season, this 20-year-old is making heads flip this time as properly, along with his raiding efforts.
But his journey began on the mud courts again house. “There was an elderly man — everyone called him ‘Dadaji’ — who used to make us play. I would mostly go to play to avoid studying in school! Slowly, I started enjoying it,” says Ayan, whose members of the family — noticing his expertise within the sport — enrolled him within the Sushil Shastri Academy in Sonipat.
Watching certainly one of his seniors from a close-by village — Manjeet Chhillar from Nizampur — play PKL in earlier seasons gave him the much-needed impetus to practise more durable. “When I got selected, I was actually at the Khelo India Youth Games in Indore. I immediately called home and told my father, “Papa, I’ve been selected!” It was an enormous second for all of us.”
Ayan, who lately landed a job in the Railways, is taking a look at strengthening alternatives within the seasons to come back. Kabaddi is for all, he says. “Unlike cricket, where you need expensive kits and facilities, kabaddi can be played by anyone, even a poor child. All you need is a ground and maybe a simple kit. You can even start barefoot on the mud. It’s a game that belongs to everyone.”
Devank Dayal of Bengal Warriorz
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Devank Dayal
Bengal Warriorz
A number of months in the past, Devank Dayal turned the most costly Indian signing on the PKL with ₹2.205 crore. He was coming off from a record-breaking 301 raid factors final season, simply two years after recovering from a life-threatening cranium damage.
Devank, who hails from Singhpura Khurd in Haryana’s Rohtak, had joyful tears in his eyes when he noticed that bid. “I only thought: now my financial struggles will finally end, and I can focus fully on kabaddi. That’s what happened. The money helped my family’s problems, and now I can play with a free mind,” he recollects.
That he has — within the ongoing leg of PKL, through which he has added duty as captain. “I believe the more responsibility you accept, the better you play. Kabaddi is a team game. One man alone cannot win. Only unity brings victory,” he says.
Twenty-three year-old Devank began watching kabaddi even earlier than he began enjoying it. “Back then, I would help my father while he was farming and during free time, I would watch kabaddi games. I would dream that one day, I could play too. My guruji, Jagbir ji, taught me the basics,” he recollects. Joining the Army, the place he met different gamers like Manjeet Dahiya, gave his goals an enormous push. “Manjeet… tall, strong, a great raider. I wanted to be like him. Later, when I joined the Army, I even trained with him. We’re like brothers now.”
Devank has bigger goals that he desires to realize; certainly one of which is to play for India within the Asian Games and the World Cup. “My bigger dream is that kabaddi enters the Olympics, and if that happens, I want to play there too,” he states.
Catch reside motion from the continued Pro Kabaddi League Season 12 on JioHotstar and the Star Sports Network
Published – October 07, 2025 06:20 pm IST
