IPL teams and the Pro Kabaddi teams that match them by character

Pro Kabaddi League is undoubtedly one of the most popular sporting leagues in the world right now. Conceptualized on the lines of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the tournament has managed to garner huge audiences over the last four seasons. IPL was a breakthrough innovation that not only popularised the game of cricket in India but also helped the domestic talent to showcase their abilities on the big stage.

The IPL, first played in 2008, is the pioneer league when it comes to T20 cricket. The tournament has been a huge success and other countries have come up with their T20 leagues, following the success of the IPL. Running on footsteps of the IPL, different leagues have emerged in the past few years – the Hockey India League, the Pro Badminton League, Indian Super League (ISL) and many more.

Needless to cite, Pro Kabaddi has been one of the most prominent among them all. The league has ensured that cricket does not remain the only sport for the nation of a billion. The tournament is an 8-City team event, similar to that in the IPL, and was first played in 2014. So how closely are the participating teams of the two most popular leagues of India related? Here we draw comparisons between the teams featuring in Pro Kabaddi League and the IPL:

1. Chennai Super Kings – Patna Pirates:

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is undoubtedly the most successful IPL team when it comes to consistency. Having made it to the play-off stage in all the first 8 editions of the IPL where they participated, CSK has been ably led by skipper MS Dhoni. Chennai won the IPL championship for two consecutive years in 2010 and 2011. The fact that has taken them far in all the editions is that they play equally well in both home and away.

Patna Pirates have done something similar in the Pro Kabaddi League. They have been consistent and up to the mark across all four seasons of the tournament. They finished on the 4th spot in the first two seasons and were the champions in the 3rd season that took place earlier this year. Their USP lies in their attacking gameplay, as was evident when they had 241 successful raids in their title campaign – the most by any team.

Pardeep Narwal has been the stalwart for them and was the most successful raider in the 2016 edition. Just like CSK found MS Dhoni, the Pirates have Dharmaraj Cheralathan taking effective calls on the field. The link that connects Patna Pirates and Chennai Super Kings is the consistency factor.

Also read – IPL teams and their EPL counterparts