Team Talk: Young talent leads the way for Gujarat Fortunegiants

Gujarat Fortunegiants have truly taken gigantic strides in VIVO Pro Kabaddi. In just their debut season, they managed to become the second highest point scoring side of the season and reached the final, leaving behind the more seasoned teams. Part of Gujarat’s success can be attributed to coach Manpreet Singh’s faith in the youngsters of his team. Singh managed to infuse the league with a lot of new and young blood in Season 5 and the players justified his faith by shouldering the weight of expectations from such a huge league admirably.

The Fortunegiants couldn’t make it past Patna at the final hurdle in their debut despite playing some excellent kabaddi throughout. But in Season 6 they will want to put that bit of disappointment behind them and draw positives from the massively successful campaign they had.

Team Highlights

The power of a young team

Gujarat Fortunegiants has been a team which hasn’t just spoken about the importance of youngsters in their team but have gone on to give their young players a chance to take the mat whenever possible. Coach Manpreet Singh managed to even bring the best out of fresh players who were playing in their first season. A lot of teams struggled against them since they hadn’t seen many of the players in action before, making them difficult to predict.

In Season 6, too, the team has brought together a young side with most of the senior players also being in their mid to late 20s at best. At just 21 years of age, their captain, Sunil Kumar too is among the youngest captains in the league. This helps give the team a leg up in the crucial ending stages where the players need to maintain fitness and be at the peak of their game.

Pressure absorbing raiders

This season Gujarat have picked raiders who have proven their worth in high pressure situations. Many of their new recruits like Dong Geon Lee, Ajay Kumar and K. Prapanjan have made a name for themselves as Do-or-Die specialist raiders and that ability to perform when the team is most in need could come in handy for the team.

They have raiders like Sachin and Rohit Gulia who are adept at picking up bonuses and attacking when the other team has a full house of players and now, with the addition of the new raiders, the team has fortified its attack in situations where the opposition has an opportunity to get in a Super Tackle and get back in the game. This combination makes the new Gujarat attack extremely deadly.

Stating Stat

Wins – 16

Draws – 3

Losses – 5

Total points scored – 775 (52.25% from Raid Points and 32.77% from Tackle Points)

Total points conceded – 641

All-Outs inflicted – 36

Most Successful Raider- Sachin with 159 Raid Points (Season 5 – Current)

Most Successful Defender- Abozar Mighani with 65 Tackle Points (Season 5)

Form Guide

1. Gujarat Fortunegiants made their debut in Season 5 and immediately managed to reach the final in their debut season itself.

2. The team had the least number of losses (4) among all the teams in the group stages of the league.

3. The Fortunegiants were the team that conceded the least points in Season 5 of VIVO Pro Kabaddi.

4. They were the only team to remain unbeaten all through their home leg, managing 5 wins and one draw.

5. Sachin from the Fortunegiants was the 9^th highest scorer of the season in Season 5.