Kolkata, Feb 6 : Among the founding franchises and a former champion in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), the Bengal Warriors, are back on home turf for the first time in four years, and for the first time after they won the title in 2019.

Led by the inimitable Maninder Singh and coached by K. Bhaskaran and Prashant Surve, the Bengal Warriors are keen to make a splash during their home leg in PKL Season 10, which has also returned to the caravan format for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic. In the City of Joy, at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, the Bengal Warriors will play the Gujarat Giants first on Feb 9, then the Telugu Titans on Feb 10, before wrapping up the leg with games against U Mumba (Feb 13) and Puneri Paltan (Feb 14).

The Bengal Warriors have their task cut out in the race for the playoffs for this season and will hope to build some solid momentum during the home leg, and the last five games. However, the Bengal Warriors are more quietly confident of putting on a good show for their home fans and are hoping to give the people of the city enough and more reasons to rejoice in the first half of February.

'After we won the PKL title in Season 7, we could not come back and play at our home venue in Kolkata, in front of our home fans. Our fans in Bengal have always shown us a lot of love and we felt sad that we could not come back as defending champions in Season 8,' said Maninder Singh, captain, Bengal Warriors.

'But now that the PKL is back to the format of visiting the home venues of all the teams, the Bengal Warriors team is very happy. We love the city of Kolkata and its people, and we promise to play to the best of our ability when we take the mat at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

"It is an iconic stadium and beautiful city, and we want our fans to take away the best memories from our four games in Kolkata,' Maninder added.

'Nomoshkar Warriors, after 4 years our Bengal Warriors are coming back home to their home venue in Kolkata. We, the Warriors family, must come together and give our team the biggest and grandest welcome at the Netaji Indoor Stadium. I wish the Bengal Warriors team all the best for the remainder of the season,' said Akshay Kumar, Bollywood actor and Co-Owner of Bengal Warriors.

/IANS