Patna, Jan 29 (IANS) Patna Pirates on Friday named raider Manpreet Singh as their captain and Sanjeev Kumar as the head coach for the third edition of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) which commences from January 30.

Manpreet of ONGC has represented India from 2000 to 2007. He was part of the gold winning Indian team at the Asian Games in 2002 and 2006 and also won gold in the World Cup in 2007, while Sanjeev was part of the gold medal wining Indian team in the 1998 and 2002 Asian Games.

Apart from Manpreet, Pirates will continue to depend on Sandeep Narwal, their star all rounder, Gurvinder Singh, Sunil Kumar, Amit Hooda and Rajesh Mondal? and others to win the championship this season.

Pirates have their first match on February 1 at Vishakhapatnam against Jaipur Pink Panthers. They will then move on to Bengaluru to play the hosts Bengaluru Bulls on February 3.

The home leg of the Pirates commences on February 16 with a match against Bengal Warriors at the Patliputra sports complex.