Bengal Warriors Part Ways With Head Coach K Bhaskaran, Announce Replacement Ahead Of PKL Season 11

K Bhaskaran was with Bengal Warriors as head coach for two years in the Pro Kabaddi League.

Kolkata: Bengal Warriors have started their preparations for the upcoming Pro Kabaddi League season as they announced the signings of Prashant Surve and Praveen Yadav as head coach and assistant coach respectively on Tuesday. Surve thus replaced K Bhaskaran, whom the franchise parted ways with after PKL Season 10.

Surve has been part of the Bengal Warriors setup since the ninth season as an assistant coach. With his new promotion, Surve is looking ahead to build a competitive squad. Meanwhile Yadav is a former kabaddi player himself and is a new entrant to PKL. Together they both look to develop a strong long-term squad.

The Kolkata-based franchise have previously won the PKL title in 2019 and qualified for the Playoffs on four occasions in the last decade. In Season 10, the Warriors narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Playoffs as they finished 7th, and kept the race for the knockout stages alive up until the final rounds of the league stage.

Season 10 of the PKL was also the first time the Bengal Warriors returned to their home turf after four years in Kolkata. “I am delighted that the Bengal Warriors franchise have shown immense faith in me by asking me to take over as the head coach of the team,” Surve said in a media release.

“We are committed to put our best efforts, whether it is the auctions or on the mat to make the people of Bengal proud. We received a lot of warmth and affection our fans  when we went back to the city after four years, and we promise to  exhibit our best play and deliver positive results this season,” he said. The Pro Kabaddi League auction will be held later this year.

For the unknown, Baskaran is big name in kabaddi. He led Jaipur Pink Panthers to maiden title in 2014 before helping Puneri Paltan to a fourth-place finish a couple of years later. It was under Baskaran’s guidance India won the World Cup in 2016.