Pro Kabaddi League 2024: Dabang Delhi's Siddharth Desai Ruled Out of PKL Season 11

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Dabang Delhi suffered a big blow just days ahead of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 11 as the season 8 champions on Monday (October 14) announced that star raider Siddharth Desai will miss the season due to personal reasons.

With an aim to provide enough support to Naveen Kumar and Ashu Malik in the raiding department, Dabang Delhi had splashed Rs 26 Lakhs to acquire the services of the experienced Bahubali Desai at the PKL Player Aution in August.

Siddharth may have had a few quiet seasons in PKL, but the 32-year-old would have brought his impressive stats to the Dabang Delhi, who have often struggled when their primary raider has been off-court.

The former Haryana Steelers raider had amassed 693 raid points in 80 matches across his stints with the Steelers in 2023, U Mumba in 2018 and Telugu Titans from 2019 to 2022. He was once the second most expensive player as well in the PKL auction.

Dabang Delhi will now have to make do without the services of the senior raider, who they announced via social media is ruled out of the season due to personal reasons.

"We are sad to announce that our Bahubali, Siddharth Desai, has been ruled out of PKL 11 due to personal reasons. Wishing him all the best!" Dabang Delhi KC posted on X.

This is the second blow for Dabang Delhi in their quest for a second title as key defender Himmat Antil, who was retained before the auction, was also ruled out due to an injury. The Delhi side has already named Ankit Mane as his replacement.

However, a replacement for Siddharth Desai is yet to be revealed by the team as they prepare for their season 11 opener against UP Yoddhas on Sunday, October 20.

In the raiding front, Dabang Delhi still have Naveen and Ashu Malik as well as Manu, Mohit, Md. Mijanur Rahman, Himanshu, Parveen as options to use. But a replacement is expected to be announced soon.