Pardeep Narwal (born 16 February 1997) is an Indian kabaddi player who currently plays for the UP Yoddha in Pro Kabaddi League and the Indian National Kabaddi team. Widely regarded as the greatest raider in Kabaddi history, he led the Patna Pirates to three straight VIVO Pro Kabaddi titles and holds a multitude of the league's raiding records.[1]
 Narwal in 2017 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Pardeep Narwal. |
| Nickname(s) | Dubki King, Record Breaker. |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Born | 16 February 1997 Sonipat, Haryana, India |
| Occupation | Kabaddi of Player. |
| Years active | 2015-Present. |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) |
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) |
| Spouse | Swati Beniwal |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Kabaddi |
| League | Pro Kabaddi League |
| Team | Patna Pirates UP Yoddhas (present) |
Early life edit
Pardeep Narwal was born in Rindhana village of Haryana's Sonipat district, where he started playing kabaddi.[2][3]He started learning Kabaddi when he was only 6 years old. He got picked for his school's Kabaddi team when he was just 11 years old. Later, at 12, he joined the Haryana Kabaddi Academy.[4]
Kabaddi career edit
Narwal made his debut in VIVO Pro Kabaddi with the Bengaluru Bulls against Patna Pirates in Season 2[3] and featured six times that campaign, scoring a total of nine raid points.[5]
Narwal moved to the Patna Pirates in Season 3[3] and blossomed into one of the best raiders in the league. He scored his first career Super 10 in the Pirates' 29-25 victory over Puneri Paltan in Kolkata, where he led both sides in scoring with 11 points on the night[5] Alongside Rohit Kumar, Narwal formed the league's most potent raiding duo as the two combined to score 194 raid points in the league stage of the campaign, with Kumar scoring 102 of those in 12 matches and Narwal scoring 92 raid points in 14 matches.[5] Narwal scored his fifth Super 10 of the season against Puneri Paltan[5] in the semi-final but missed on the final through injury. The Pirates, however, triumphed over defending U Mumba by a scoreline of 31-28[5] and won their maiden VIVO Pro Kabaddi title.
Following Rohit Kumar moves to the Bengaluru Bulls, Pardeep took over the responsibility of being the Pirates' lead raider and enjoyed another sensational campaign, scoring 107 raid points in 14 league stage matches with four Super 10s,[5] the first of which came in narrow 36-34 win over U Mumba in Jaipur, where the raider scored, a match-high, 18 points. Narwal continued to carry the brunt of the raiding load in the playoffs and scored eight points in the Pirates' narrow 37-33 victory over Puneri Paltan in the semi-final,[5] taking them to their second-straight VIVO Pro Kabaddi final. In the final against Jaipur Pink Panthers, Narwal unleashed a mammoth 16-point performance leading the Pirates to their second VIVO Pro Kabaddi title with a 37-29 victory[5] and won their second VIVO Pro Kabaddi title in a row.
Narwal's third season with the Pirates was arguably the best ever by a player VIVO Pro Kabaddi history, as the raider notched up 369 raid points and led the league in every raiding category.[3] Narwal scored a Super 10 in 19 off the 26 matches[5] that he played in that campaign, managing one in each of Patna Pirates' first three matches. He followed it up with just one in the subsequent four matches but after that relatively lean patch, he embarked on a run of eight straight matches with a Super 10 that eventually ended against the Tamil Thalaivas where he fell just one point short of 10 raid points.[5]
After finishing second in the Zone B standing,[5] Narwal and the Pirates battled Haryana Steelers in the Playoffs, where the raider scored, a VIVO Pro Kabaddi record, 34 raid points which included an eight-point raid, as the Pirates routed the Steelers 69-30.[5] In Eliminator 3, Narwal yet again led by example, scoring 19 raid points in his team's 42-32 win over Puneri Paltan. In Qualifier 2, Narwal scored 23 raid points against the Bengal Warriors in his team's narrow 47-44 victory,[5] helping the Pirates reach their third straight VIVO Pro Kabaddi final. Narwal continued his unbelievable form in the final, scoring 19 raid points against Gujarat Fortunegiants to lead the Pirates to a 55-38 victory and capture their third straight VIVO Pro Kabaddi title.[5]
Narwal scored a Super 10 in each of his team's first three matches in Season 6 before falling short against the Telugu Titans.[5] The next four matches also saw a similar trend for Narwal, as he scored three straight Super 10s before failing to do so against the same opponent in Patna.[5] Narwal continued to string along quality performances but the Pirates struggled for form towards the latter end of the season and needed a big finish to their campaign to stand a chance to qualify for the Playoffs. Narwal scored three Super 10s in the Pirates final five matches of the season but the team failed to register a single win and crashed out in the league stage of the campaign for the first time in franchise history. This Season was also a very Interesting Season for him as he was battling against other raiders for the most Raid Points but came 2nd with 222 raid points, The third was Siddharth Desai (214) and The First Was Pawan Sehrawat (262) who was astounding for his Pro season.[5]
In season 7, Narwal started slowly, but still became the first player to reach 1,000 points in the PKL.[6][7]
In Pro Kabaddi League Season 9, he created a new unbreakable record as the first player in the league's history to score more than 1500 raid points in his PKL career. He set this record on 21st November 2022 at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad, playing against Gujarat Giants. He is the top scorer in history of Pro-Kabaddi League . He opened a Kabaddi academy for the bright future of indian youngsters in kabaddi. The name of his Kabaddi Academy is Narwal Sports Academy. He is the most followed Kabaddi player on instagram.
In Season 10 of Pro Kabaddi League, Pardeep Narwal set an unbreakable record with 1600+ raid points, becoming the sole player to achieve this on December 11, 2023, against the Bengaluru Bulls at Sri Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bengaluru.[8]
International edit
Pardeep Narwal has featured regularly for the Indian kabaddi team since 2016 and has won gold in three of the four tournaments that he has played in.
Records and achievements edit
- VIVO Pro Kabaddi (2015, 2016, 2017)[3]
- Kabaddi World Cup (2016)[3]
- Asian kabaddi championship (2017)[3]
- Kabaddi Masters Dubai (2018)[3]
- VIVO Pro Kabaddi Most Valuable Player (2016, 2017)[3]
- Best Raider Award (2017, 2018)[3]
- Most super raids in a season[9]
- Most touch point in a single raid[10]
- First player to score 1500 raid points in PKL history, it was against Gujarat Giants VS UP Yoddha Match PKL season 9. 8
References edit
- ^ "Pardeep Narwal Biography, Age, Career, News & Stats | Pardeep Narwal Profile". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
- ^ Roy, Dhananjay (17 June 2017). "Will Narwal help Patna to hat-trick?". The Times of India. TNN. Archived from the original on 10 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kabaddi, Pro. "Pardeep Narwal player profile". prokabaddi. prokabaddi. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ^ "Pardeep Narwal Profile-Age Bio, Stats, Raid Points & Team [October 2023]". 12 October 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Kabaddi, Pro. "Schedules, fixtures and results". prokabaddi. prokabaddi. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ^ Sportstar, Team (25 December 2023). "PKL: Naveen Kumar completes 1000 raid points". Sportstar. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
- ^ "Pardeep Narwal's record-breaking journey to 1000 raid points in 99 matches". Kabaddi Adda. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
- ^ "Pardeep Narwal - Kabaddi Player - Up Yoddhas". 26 December 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
- ^ Kharade, Akash (30 August 2021). "PKL 2021: From Pardeep Narwal's 8-point raid to Pawan Sehrawat's 39 points in a match, all stats you need to know from PKL history - Inside Sport India". www.insidesport.in. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ^ Kharade, Akash (30 August 2021). "PKL 2021: From Pardeep Narwal's 8-point raid to Pawan Sehrawat's 39 points in a match, all stats you need to know from PKL history - Inside Sport India". www.insidesport.in. Retrieved 16 October 2022.