Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is a professional kabaddi league in India, based on the format of the Indian Premier LeagueT20 cricket tournament. The fifth edition of the tournament was played in 2017 with 12 franchises representing various cities in India. Representing Tamil Nadu, 'Tamil Thalaivas' made their debut in 2017. The team plays their home games at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Chennai).[3]
In the auction for the 2017 season, Thalaivas picked up defender Amit Hooda for Rs 63 lakh. They also roped in Indian national team captain Ajay Thakur.[5][6]
The teams are divided into two zones with each zone having six teams based on their geographical proximity. Each team will play 15 intra-zonal matches and 7 inter-zonal matches. Zone A
The teams are divided into two zones with each zone having six teams based on their geographical proximity. Each team will play 15 intra-zonal matches and 7 inter-zonal matches. Zone A
It was an interesting auction for Tamil Thalaivas where they picked up players such as Manjeet, Surjeet and Prapanjan for big money and formed a balanced team. Despite early season form and some strong defensive displays by Sagar and Surjeet, it was an underwhelming season for Tamil Thalaivas yet again, finishing 11th in the league stage. Prapanjan missed out most of the season due to injury to the dismay of the local fans. Sagar, who was retained by the management was the find of the season for Tamil Thalaivas which was the only consolation.
Updated to match(es) played on 25 February 2022. Source: ProKabaddi (C) Champion; (R) Runners Up
Five (5) points for a win
Three (3) points each for a drawn game
One (1) point for a loss by 7 points or fewer
Season IX
In a freak incident, Pawan Sehrawat injured himself in the first match of the Thalaivas season. Head coach J.Udayakumar was sacked mid-season after a bad run of form and ultra-defensive gameplay. Team India Head coach Ashan Kumar took charge of the team and was the reason behind team's upheaval of form. Thalaivas played attractive kabaddi with young players like Narendar coming to forefront breaking the 200 raid points barrier for the season. Ajinkya Pawar played the supporting role in the raiding department who was involved 2 mega 6 and 7 points raid against Telugu Titans in 2 separate matches. Sagar was the hero again in the defense supported well by Sahil, Mohit and M. Abhishek. Another injury blow to Sagar near the close season brought doubts on the play-off qualification but Thalaivas rallied behind the coach and kept winning which resulted in play-off qualification for the first time in their Pro Kabaddi history after winning the crunch match against UP Yoddhas in matchday 21. Tamil Thalaivas finished 5th in the league table and played against UP Yoddhas in Eliminator 2. Yoddhas were defeated in the shoot out after the match ended in a tie only for the second time in Pro Kabaddi KO round history. Tamil Thalaivas qualified for the semi-finals for the first time where they played Puneri Paltan but lost the match by 2 points despite putting up a valiant effort. Despite missing their star players in Pawan and Sagar, this was the most successful season in the franchise's history.
Pawan Sehrawat was released before the auctions and TT decided not to use the RTM on him. Young TN raiders Sathish Kannan and
Masanamuthu Lakshmanan were bought for big money alongside experienced Selvamani, though none of them featured largely during the season. Otherwise it was a slow season for Thalaivas and spending most of the time in bottom 3. TT picked up form in mid season and tried to close the gap between the teams who are in contention for the play-offs but unfortunately didn't qualify for the play-offs and finished their season in 9th position in the table. But it was the last match which will be remembered for a long time where they defeated Bengal Warriors 74-37 in which 3 PKL records were broken; Most pts by single team (74 points), Most pts by two teams combined (111 points), Most all outs inflicted in a match (7 all-outs, 6 by Thalaivas and 1 by Bengal), Most all outs inflicted by a team in a match (6 by Tamil Thalaivas).
Ashan Kumar was replaced ahead of the auctions and there was a return for J.Udhayakumar as head coach and Dharmaraj Cheralathan will be supporting him as Strategy coach. Tamil Thalaivas retained core players like Sagar, Narendar, Sahil but Ajinkya Pawar was released. They made the highest buy in the Season 11 auction for Sachin Tanwar who was brought in for 2.15Cr and expected to strengthen the attack of the team alongside Narendar & Vishal. Tamil Thalaivas announced that Sagar will be retaining the captaincy for Season 11 as well.[7] Sahil Gulia and Sachin Tanwar will act as vice captains of the team.