U.P. Yoddhas - owned by the GMR group - have announced the appointment of 'Dubki King' Pardeep Narwal as their captain for the remainder of Pro Kabaddi League Season 9.

Pardeep replaces Nitesh Kumar, who skippered the Yoddhas in the last two campaigns and most recently in the 31-40 defeat to Puneri Paltan. The 'Dubki King' has deservedly earned this new role given he is one of the iconic kabaddi players in the Indian kabaddi circle and also the only raider to have earned over 1400 raid points in his PKL career.

In the past, Pardeep Narwal captained Patna Pirates and engineered them to three back-to-back Pro Kabaddi League titles. U.P. Yoddhas currently sit 10th in the PKL 9 standings with 24 points to their kitty and will take on Haryana Steelers in Pardeep’s first game as Yoddhas captain. The match will be broadcast LIVE on Star Sports Network and can be streamed LIVE on Disney Hotstar at 9:30 PM IST on November 5, 2022.

Commenting on this announcement, Jasvir Singh, Head Coach of U.P. Yoddhas, said, “Nitesh is one of our finest defenders and nothing changes that. This season has been testing and hence to concentrate on his game and performance Nitesh himself took the decision of giving up on captaincy."

"Once he expressed his desire, we knowing his worth respected it and after a long thorough analysis we only found Pradeep as the best option, given his stature within the team and his past experience leading his past franchise, to take up the role as a captain for UP Yoddhas,” Jasvir added.

Pardeep Narwal has been one of the biggest icons of the Pro Kabaddi League as statistically there’s nothing that he is left to achieve as a raider. He is currently placed on top of each raiding stat table viz; Total Points, Raid Points, Successful Raids, Average Raid Points, Super Raids and Super 10s of overall seasons of Pro Kabaddi League.

Known for his iconic dubkis and multi-point raids with this added responsibility, Pardeep will now look forward to his journey with U.P. Yoddhas conquering the summit.