Vikas Kandola Biography: Know the life of this ultimate raider

The inception of Pro Kabaddi League certainly gave recognition to the sport’s longest servants like Anup Kumar, Dharmaraj Chelarathan, and Ajay Thakur. More importantly, it also laid the foundation to bring the game’s next heroes through an array of grassroots programs, the foremost of which is the New Young Players (NYP) program. And one of the proud alumni of the program is Vikas Kandola (or Vikash Khandola). A raider by trade, the youngster has set the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) on fire with some scintillating attacking play for Haryana Steelers.

Vikas caught the eyeballs towards the end of the sixth season of PKL where he emerged as the highest point scorer for his team. The attacker’s unpredictability and energy across the mat give him a great advantage against his opponents. Vikas continues to be the go-to-man for the Haryana franchise in the seventh edition as well, having won many games single-handedly.

Here’s everything you need to know about Vikas Kandola…

About Vikas Kandola

Vikas Kandola Biography

Early Life

Vikash was born on April 02, 1998, in the Jind district of Haryana. He began his career in his teenage during the fourth edition of PKL with the team of Dabang Delhi. Vikas has also represented Railways in the 3rd Kabaddi Federation Cup in the early stage of his career. He later went on to play for Haryana in the following year from which he started gaining success. Kandola got recognition in the fifth edition for great performance and then went on to climb up the ladder of success. He took his performance in the sixth season of PKL to another level and is continuing in this edition as well.

Vikas Kandola PKL Career

Vikas Kandola began his VIVO PKL with Dabang Delhi during the fourth season. Although he did not have a dream start to his PKL Career and this is clearly suggested by his numbers as well. In the four matches that he played in that season for Dabang Delhi, he could only earn 5 raid points. He conducted a total of 17 raids for gathering those points. There were no effective points as well, and his average time spent on the mat was also very less.

Season 5

This was the breakthrough season for Kandola as his fortunes changed after he moved to Haryana Steelers. In the nine matches that played for the Steelers in that season, he successfully collected 61 raid points. All his numbers grew from last season to this season like the number of raids he conducted and his average time spent on mat etc. This was the season that gave him major recognition in the league.

Season 6

After his performance enhancement in season 5, he didn’t look back in this season. He played 22 matches this season and did 348 raids with a total of 183 raid points. His average time spent on the mat also increased to 73.54% in this edition. Besides, he also earned as many as 102 effective points making him one of the players of the tournament in that season. 

Season 7

His numbers did not stop increasing in the previous years as the story continues here as well. In this season, he played 11 games so far where all his numbers are quite upgraded. He conducted 215 raids in these 11 matches where he earned 109 points. He has already 88 effective points to his name. His average time spent on the mat has also climbed to over 75%. He is also at the sixth position in the list of most successful raiders of the tournament so far. Also with a lot of matches still left in this series, he has a decent chance of finishing in the list of top 5 raiders of 2019

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Vikas Kandola PKL Stats

Vikas Kandola has featured in a total of 52 matches in VIVO Pro Kabaddi League so far. His overall career statistics include 820 raids in which he earned 420 raid points and 259 effective points. He also has an average strike rate percentage of 51.47% and his average time spent on mat is over 70%.

As mentioned earlier, his numbers have always increased since the time of his PKL debut. He made his first appearance during the fourth season of PKL. Let’s have a look at the career numbers of Vikas Kandola over the years in Pro Kabaddi League:

Vikas Kandola Records

Kandola has featured in just a few matches so far but already has some notable records to his name. Here are some of the fantastic numbers that prove his worth:

• Vikas Kandola was the player with maximum points for Haryana Steelers in VIVO PKL 2018.  He ended that season with a total of 177 points to his name.
• Vikas was also the third most successful player in terms of earning bonus points. He gathered 51 bonus points in season 6 of Pro Kabaddi League.
• Kandola was also amongst the most successful raiders of PKL in that season in terms of Super Raids. He was at the sixth position with five Super Raids in the 2018 league.

Signature Move

One of the most commonly found signature moves of most of the raiders, the ‘Running Hand Touch’ is Kandola key move as well. It is one action that he performs the most in which keeps the opponent in bewilderment till the end. It is enacted with a sudden increase in the pace by the attacker. He rushes towards the defender with an entire body extended to touch the opponent before successfully coming back.

READ | Ran Singh Biography: Kabaddi, Age, Tackle Points, Records

Social Media 

Vikas Kandola Instagram

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Vikas Kandola Twitter

Great Match! Convincingly performance by the whole team. https://t.co/j0HiTDI7gL

— Vikash Kandola (@VikashKandola88) September 17, 2019

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