Gujarat Giants Squad 2026: Every Player Profile & Career Stats
An 11th-place finish rarely comes with a genuinely record-setting player on the roster, but Gujarat Giants somehow manage both, a genuinely unusual combination in a league where individual quality and team results usually move together. Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh has become one of PKL’s most bankable auction names even as his team has struggled to find consistent form across the eighteen-match league stage.
Gujarat Giants Squad is built around Iranian all-rounder Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, raiders Ajith V Kumar and Rakesh, and a wide supporting cast still building its own statistical track record. This guide profiles every documented member of the squad individually, breaks down career numbers where public records exist, and explains how this exact roster came together heading into the new season, position by position and player by player.
How Gujarat Giants Squad Was Built
Gujarat Giants brought in Jaivir Sharma as head coach following a difficult recent stretch, a franchise known for making decisive coaching changes when results fall short of expectations. Jaivir’s background includes coaching Indian national teams to gold medals at both the Asian Games and the Kabaddi World Cup, giving the franchise genuine international pedigree to build around as they try to close out another championship run, having reached two finals under previous management without ever lifting the trophy. Our full profile of every current PKL head coach, including how each franchise approaches leadership transitions, is available in our PKL head coaches guide.
On the playing side, the Giants continued their pattern of investing heavily in Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, who set the record for the highest single auction price in PKL history when he sold to the franchise for 2.23 crore rupees, becoming the first player to cross the 2-crore mark for three consecutive seasons. Understanding exactly how the auction system and player categories work is covered in our PKL Season 13 auction guide, which explains the record-setting bidding that brought him to this roster.
All-Rounders
Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh
Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh is not just Gujarat Giants’s most expensive player. He is arguably the most consistently in-demand auction commodity in the entire league right now, regardless of position, a status that has held steady across three separate auction cycles.
Career Stats
Across 109 career matches spanning five seasons, Shadloui Chiyaneh has built up 122 raid points and 391 tackle points, for a career total of 513 points. That balanced contribution across both raiding and defense is exactly what makes him such a sought-after auction target, since he gives a coaching staff genuine flexibility rather than a single specialized skill, a quality few other players anywhere in the league can genuinely claim.
Record-Setting Auction Price
His 2.23 crore rupee price tag made him the first player in PKL history to cross the 2-crore mark for three straight seasons, an unmatched streak that reflects just how highly teams value his combination of raiding and defensive output, and one that no other player in the league’s history has come close to matching. Understanding exactly how raid points and tackle points combine into a career total like his is covered in our raid points and tackle points guide.
Raiders
Rakesh (Sungroya)
Rakesh has built a genuinely productive raiding career with Gujarat Giants, accumulating 592 career points, made up of 575 raid points and 17 tackle points, across 96 matches spanning roughly five seasons. That level of output makes him one of the more reliable scoring options on a roster that has otherwise struggled for consistency, and his numbers actually exceed several raiders who receive far more national attention across the league.
Ajith V Kumar
Ajith V Kumar carries a career total of 504 points, built from 494 raid points and 10 tackle points, across 92 matches spanning around six seasons. His sustained raiding output over multiple years gives the coaching staff a proven option to build the attacking game plan around alongside Rakesh, and together the two form one of the more underrated raiding partnerships in the league given how rarely Gujarat’s overall results reflect their individual quality.
Parteek Dahiya
Parteek Dahiya has emerged as one of Gujarat Giants’s contributors in more recent seasons, playing a role in the franchise’s improved head-to-head form against several rivals. A fully consolidated public career statistics record for him has not yet been compiled.
Himanshu Singh
Himanshu Singh is part of the raiding rotation supporting the squad’s more established performers. No consolidated public career statistics record currently exists for him.
Himanshu
A second player named Himanshu also features among Gujarat Giants’s raiders, distinct from Himanshu Singh elsewhere on the roster. Career totals for him are not currently tracked in a single accessible record.
Shridhar Ananda Kadam
Shridhar Ananda Kadam adds further raiding depth to the squad. His individual career numbers have not been compiled into any single public source at this stage.
Ankit
Ankit rounds out the raiding options within the wider squad. A public career statistics profile for him has not yet been consolidated.
K Harish
K Harish completes the raiding depth chart for Gujarat Giants. As with several teammates in similar squad roles, detailed public career numbers are not yet widely published.
Defenders
Sombir
Sombir anchors part of Gujarat Giants’s defensive rotation right now. A consolidated public career record for him has not yet been compiled in relation to his time with this franchise specifically.
Amit
Amit is part of the defensive corps for Gujarat Giants. No consolidated public career statistics record currently exists for him.
Sumit
Sumit provides further defensive depth to the squad. His individual career numbers have not been compiled into any single public source.
Rohit Kumar
Rohit Kumar rounds out the defensive rotation, distinct from other players of similar names elsewhere in the league. A public career statistics profile for him has not yet been consolidated with this franchise.
Shubham Kumar
Shubham Kumar completes the wider defensive group. Career totals for him are not currently tracked in a single accessible record.
Milad Jabbari
Milad Jabbari is Gujarat Giants’s overseas defensive addition, operating at right corner. A consolidated public career record for him has not yet been compiled.
Lucky Sharma
Lucky Sharma rounds out the right corner rotation for Gujarat Giants. His statistical history has not been consolidated into any single accessible profile at this time.
All-Rounders (Continued)
Himanshu Yadav
Himanshu Yadav gives Gujarat Giants a player capable of contributing in both raiding and defensive situations depending on how a match unfolds. A public career statistics record for him has not yet been consolidated.
Visvanth V
Visvanth V adds further tactical flexibility to the squad as another all-rounder option. Career totals for him have not been compiled into a single accessible profile.
Nitin Panwar
Nitin Panwar rounds out the all-rounder rotation for Gujarat Giants. No public career statistics profile currently exists for him in a consolidated form.
Gujarat Giants’s Playing Style Heading Into the New Season
Gujarat Giants’s identity right now centers on a genuinely rare combination: a proven all-rounder anchoring both raiding and defensive contributions, paired with two productive raiders behind him, all sitting on top of a squad that has otherwise struggled to translate individual quality into team results across a long league campaign. Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh’s ability to contribute meaningfully on both sides of the mat gives the coaching staff genuine tactical flexibility, since he can be deployed as a raiding option early in a match and shifted into a more defensive role as the situation demands.
Rakesh and Ajith V Kumar give the team two separate proven raiding threats, which in theory should create matchup problems for opposing defenses trying to focus their attention on a single scorer. In practice, Gujarat Giants’s Season 12 campaign showed that individual talent alone cannot fully compensate for inconsistency elsewhere in the squad, since the team still finished with the league’s weakest score difference despite carrying three genuinely productive, well-documented performers on its books.
That gap between individual quality and team results is exactly the kind of problem a new head coach is typically brought in to solve, and Jaivir Sharma’s international coaching background, including national team success at both the Asian Games and the Kabaddi World Cup, suggests a tactician capable of building more cohesive team structures around already-talented individual pieces rather than simply hoping raw ability eventually translates into wins on its own.
Why Squad Depth Matters More Than It Looks
It is easy to look at Gujarat Giants’s roster and assume the presence of three well-documented, productive performers should be enough to compete near the top of the table. Season 12 proved otherwise, in fairly emphatic fashion. A raiding unit built around Rakesh and Ajith V Kumar still needs reliable support from less-established names like Parteek Dahiya, Himanshu Singh, and Shridhar Ananda Kadam if either of the two proven raiders has an off night or needs rest during a long league stage.
The same logic applies even more urgently on defense, where Gujarat Giants’s -73 score difference in Season 12 suggests the backline struggled far more consistently than the raiding unit did. Depth defenders like Sombir, Amit, and Sumit will need to develop into more reliable contributors if the team hopes to turn individual attacking talent into actual wins rather than isolated highlight-reel performances that do not change the final scoreline on any given night.
This is exactly the kind of gap a coaching change is designed to address, and how quickly Jaivir Sharma can develop this supporting cast into genuine contributors will likely determine whether Gujarat Giants’s individual talent finally translates into a stronger league position.
Full Squad Career Stats Table
Here is every player’s career total where public records exist. Players without a consolidated public career record are marked accordingly rather than assigned a guessed figure.
| Player | Role | Career Matches | Career Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh (overseas) | All-rounder | 109 | 513 (122 raid, 391 tackle) |
| Rakesh (Sungroya) | Raider | 96 | 592 (575 raid, 17 tackle) |
| Ajith V Kumar | Raider | 92 | 504 (494 raid, 10 tackle) |
| Parteek Dahiya | Raider | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Himanshu Singh | Raider | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Himanshu | Raider | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Shridhar Ananda Kadam | Raider | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Ankit | Raider | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| K Harish | Raider | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Sombir | Defender | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Amit | Defender | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Sumit | Defender | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Rohit Kumar | Defender | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Shubham Kumar | Defender | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Milad Jabbari (overseas) | Defender (right corner) | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Lucky Sharma | Defender (right corner) | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Himanshu Yadav | All-rounder | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Visvanth V | All-rounder | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
| Nitin Panwar | All-rounder | Not publicly consolidated | Not publicly consolidated |
Notice how three players carry the vast majority of this squad’s documented statistical weight. Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, Rakesh, and Ajith V Kumar combine for over 1,600 career points between them, while the rest of the roster still lacks a consolidated public statistics record, a pattern common among franchises rebuilding around a small proven core.
Why an 11th-Place Finish Still Produced a Record-Breaking Auction Buy
It might seem strange that a team finishing near the bottom of the table also carries one of the league’s most expensive and statistically productive players. Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh’s individual excellence simply was not enough to overcome a Season 12 campaign that finished 11th with a -73 score difference, the weakest in the league, a number that reflects a pattern of narrow losses mixed with a few genuinely heavy defeats rather than one single obvious weakness.
That disconnect between one standout performer and a struggling overall team result is exactly the kind of pattern that shapes auction and retention strategy heading into a new season. A franchise in Gujarat Giants’s position typically has to decide whether to build further around its proven stars or spend more of its purse addressing weaknesses elsewhere in the squad, a genuinely difficult balancing act given how limited any team’s total auction purse actually is. Their Season 12 defeat to Bengaluru Bulls, a lopsided 54-26 result in the final round of league matches, is covered in more depth in our Bengaluru Bulls vs Gujarat Giants head-to-head guide, a match that captured much of what went wrong for the Giants across the season.
What This Roster Means for the Season Ahead
Gujarat Giants enters the new season with a genuinely proven core in Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, Rakesh, and Ajith V Kumar, but a season this far below expectations means the rest of the roster faces real scrutiny. The coaching change to Jaivir Sharma, with his international pedigree, gives the franchise a fresh voice specifically tasked with turning individual talent into collective results, a challenge that has eluded several previous coaching regimes at this franchise.
Whether that translates into an improved league position will depend heavily on whether players like Parteek Dahiya, Himanshu Singh, and the wider defensive rotation can develop into more consistent contributors alongside the proven trio. The franchise’s history offers some reason for cautious optimism here, since Gujarat has repeatedly shown the ability to assemble genuinely talented individual rosters even during their more difficult seasons, dating back to their Gujarat Fortunegiants days when they reached back-to-back finals in Season 5 and Season 6 despite ultimately losing both. Tracking how this roster performs against the rest of the league is easiest through our PKL points table, while our Gujarat Giants team page covers the complete Season 12 recap and schedule outlook heading into the rebuild.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who commands the highest auction price on Gujarat Giants?
Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh holds that distinction, having sold to Gujarat Giants for a record 2.23 crore rupees, making him the first player in PKL history to cross the 2-crore mark for three consecutive seasons.
What is Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh’s career record?
He has accumulated 513 career points, made up of 122 raid points and 391 tackle points, across 109 matches spanning five seasons, reflecting a genuinely balanced all-rounder contribution.
Who leads Gujarat Giants’s raiding attack?
Rakesh and Ajith V Kumar are the two most statistically productive raiders on the roster, with career totals of 592 and 504 points respectively, both built up over multiple seasons with the franchise.
Who coaches Gujarat Giants?
Jaivir Sharma currently coaches Gujarat Giants, having previously guided Indian national teams to gold medals at both the Asian Games and the Kabaddi World Cup before joining the franchise.
Why do most Gujarat Giants players lack published career stats?
Detailed career statistics tend to be consolidated online only for established performers with heavy playing time, like Shadloui Chiyaneh, Rakesh, and Ajith V Kumar. Many squad depth players, particularly younger raiders and defenders, do not yet have a single public career record, even if they have contributed meaningful minutes for the team.
How does Gujarat Giants’s roster compare to other struggling franchises?
Unlike several other teams near the bottom of the table, Gujarat Giants carries three genuinely well-documented performers rather than just one or two. That makes their poor Season 12 result more of a squad-depth and coaching problem than a lack of individual talent at the top of the roster.
What is Gujarat Giants’s franchise history under its previous name?
The franchise previously competed as Gujarat Fortunegiants, reaching back-to-back PKL finals in Season 5 and Season 6 before losing both, a difficult early stretch that eventually led to the rebrand to Gujarat Giants as the team searched for a fresh identity and a first championship.
