Haryana Steelers Team 2019: Players, Records, Sponsors, Owners

Haryana – the new land of Kabaddi superstars of the Indian team has played a crucial role in the nation’s success in the past few years. The state, often known as the sports powerhouse of India, has produced several stalwarts in Kabaddi and other sports. Keeping that in mind, Haryana Steelers was one of the four new teams added to the Pro Kabaddi League in 2017. But they have blown hot and cold in the two seasons they have played, with one playoff appearance and one wooden spoon. Can they go a little further than the play-offs this season?

About Haryana Steelers

Haryana Steelers Team 2019

History: Haryana Steelers

The team was formed in 2017, as a part of the expansion of the Pro Kabaddi League to twelve teams. The Steelers have worked hard in order to spread the game in the state of Haryana and have continued changing their home bases regularly. In their first season in 2017, Haryana played their home games at Sonepat and switched to Panchkula in 2018. The team will continue to play there in the seventh season of PKL.

Owners of Haryana Steelers

We're LIVE from the #SteelersPressConference as @MustafaGhouse, CEO, JSW Sports and our coach Rakesh Kumar take centrestage. #HaryanaSteelers #ShaanSeSteelers pic.twitter.com/yUdxaY7W57

— Haryana Steelers (@HaryanaSteelers) July 17, 2019

The team is owned by JSW Group, one of the largest business groups in India with a revenue of $14 billion. Along with Haryana Steelers, JSW has also invested in Bengaluru FC of the Indian Super League and Delhi Capitals of the Indian Premier League.

Sponsors

To sign off on our #SteelersPressConference, we would like to thank our sponsors as we begin a new journey this #VIVOProKabaddi Season 7! @Borosil@aplapollo_tubes @t10sports @BKTtires@Paytm@hplIndia #HaryanaSteelers #ShaanSeSteelers pic.twitter.com/8NgaVKLx1X

— Haryana Steelers (@HaryanaSteelers) July 17, 2019

Thanks to their owners JSW, Haryana Steelers already have one of the biggest brand backing them up in the league. APL Apollo Steel Pipes are the shirt sponsors of Haryana Steelers for the seventh season. The Indian sportswear brand, T10 Sports is the team’s kit manufacturer. Borosil, PayTM, HPL India and BKT Tyres are the associate sponsors of the Steelers.

Coach of Haryana Steelers

One man ➡ Multiple roles

A Guru is someone who makes you meet yourself! ?

हमारे कोच राकेश कुमार को गुरु पूर्णिमा की बहुत सारी शुभकामनाएं! ???#GuruPurnima #DhaakadBoys #HaryanaSteelers #ShaanSeSteelers (1/2) pic.twitter.com/DojZuMI1Eb

— Haryana Steelers (@HaryanaSteelers) July 16, 2019

Former Indian player and the most expensive player of the very first Pro Kabaddi league, 2014 auction, Rakesh Kumar is the team’s head coach for the upcoming season. The Arjuna award recipient will be making his coaching debut this season.

Kumar has won the Kabaddi World Cup in 2004 and 2007, along with three consecutive gold medals at the Asian Games from 2006 to 2014. After playing for Patna, Mumbai and Telugu franchise, Rakesh hung up his boots to take up coaching.

Performance in PKL

The Steelers were impressive in their debut season but completely lost the track in 2018. The team will have to work hard to get back to the winning ways in the upcoming season as they look to make it to the final of the Pro Kabaddi League for the very first time.

2017

The Steelers won 13 of the 22 group stages games in the fifth season of PKL. They finished third in Zone A with 79 points and a score difference of 40. Surender Nada played a crucial role in Haryana’s success in the first season, finishing as the league’s best defender with 80 tackle points.

Unfortunately, the newbies Haryana faced Patna Pirates, the two-time defending champions in the Eliminator 2 as they faced a crushing 30-69 defeat.

2018

Haryana Steelers’ second season was a complete contrast of their first season. Unlike their exceptional 13 wins last season, they won just 6 games out of 22 and lost 14 to finish last in Zone A. The score difference of -91 was the worst by any team in 2018 in group stages. Vikash Khandola was Haryana’s best raider in the sixth season with 172 points.

2019 Auction

.@HaryanaSteelers would aim for more 'Vikas' in #VivoProKabaddi Season 7, having bolstered their raiding and defence departments!

Here's how the #DhaakadBoys line up! pic.twitter.com/jVfgVv017a

— ProKabaddi (@ProKabaddi) April 10, 2019

Kuldeep Singh and Vikash Khandola were the only two players retained for the seventh season with Haryana being in a great need of a squad shake-up. They signed raider Prashanth Kumar Rai for ₹77 lakh.

Home Stadium of Haryana Steelers

As mentioned before, the Steelers changed their home base from Sonipat to Panchkula last season. They will continue to play in the same city for the seventh season at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium. The stadium has the capacity of 7000 people. Leg 11 of the 2019 season will be played here from 28^th September to 4^th October.

2019 Season

इंतज़ार की घड़ी खत्म हुई। ?

Excitement Level = ???

Here are our complete fixtures for #VivoProKabaddi Season 7 ??#HaryanaSteelers #ShaanSeSteelers #DhaakadBoys pic.twitter.com/ge6zmvuZb7

— Haryana Steelers (@HaryanaSteelers) June 21, 2019

Veteran defender Dharmaraj Cheralathan will be the new captain of the Steelers and they will look to perform much better than the last season. With a few new additions in the attacking department, Haryana will definitely look to at least make it to the play-offs. They will start the seventh season against Puneri Paltan on 22^nd July.