July 16: Bengal Warriors is starting over with a new look in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 5.

The home team, in association with The Telegraph, has retained only two players from the previous edition of the tournament and hired a new coach, Jagdish K.K. from Kerala.

The tournament starts in July 28 and Bengal Warriors' first battle, against Telugu Titans, is on August 2.

Jagdish, a member of the team that had won the gold in the 2002 Asian Games, is putting emphasis on agility and endurance and also looking to instil a bit of steel in the mind.

"Bengal Warriors has lost a lot of matches in the last four seasons in the dying moments after being in the lead initially. We are focussing on situation-based training. Often it's the last raid while defending and raiding that we are practising," the coach said. "We have a beautiful balance of experience and talented youngsters."

The franchise came last in 2016 and finished fourth the year before.

The current line-up boasts players such as Surjeet Singh, the new captain who had played for Jaipur Pink Panthers last year and U Mumba before that, teams that have done well in the league.

Similarly, players like all-rounders Shrikant Tewthia and Ran Singh bring a lot of experience to the team.

The coach is excited about rookies like Amaresh Mondal, 20, from Bongaon, the only player in the team from Bengal. "Mondal is a raider full of energy but his skills with angle of the raid and timing of the touch need to be honed," Jagdish said.

The team has been packed with a lot of all-rounders. On top of that, specialist raiders are being put through the routines of defenders and vice versa.

Jagdish said they were mindful in this year's auctions of another problem of the Bengal Warriors - injuries. That's why the team management steered clear of any player with even a slight niggle.

One of the two retained from last year's team is Jang Kun Lee from South Korea, a sought-after player of the league who has an impressive tally of 188 successful raids out of 527 in his Pro Kabaddi career since Season 1.

The other player is Ravindra Kumawat, a junior player.

The Indian players of the team have been attending a camp at Tollygunge Club, which started on June 2 and will continue till July 28.

The league this year is longer as four more teams have joined the fray, taking the squad count to 12. The new teams are Gujarat Fortunegiants, UP Yoddha, Tamil Thaliavas and Haryana Steelers.

"There will be 22 matches in the group league, compared with 14 we had till last year. That is why we expect everyone to get an opportunity," said captain Surjeet.

Warriors Ran and Shrikant, who had played in other franchises before, said the camaraderie between the players was what made the Bengal team stood out.

"We practise five hours each day but the sessions are broken up in such a way that we don't feel tired. The players keep encouraging each other, especially the youngsters," said Shrikant.