Ultimate Kho Kho Season 1: Schedule, teams, rules, format, terms of the sport, when and where to watch

Six franchises - Chennai Quick Guns, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Khiladis, Odisha Juggernauts, Rajasthan Warriors and Telugu Yoddhas, will battle it out for the Season 1 title over 22 days.

Ultimate Kho Kho players in action during a training match | Photo Credit: Ultimate Kho Kho

India’s first-ever franchise-based Kho-Kho league, Ultimate Kho Kho will start on August 14 at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge, Pune, Maharashtra.

Six franchises - Chennai Quick Guns, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Khiladis, Odisha Juggernauts, Rajasthan Warriors and Telugu Yoddhas, will battle it out for the Season 1 title over 22 days.

Where can you watch Ultimate Kho Kho?

The league will be telecast in five different languages on the Sony Sports Network. SONY TEN 1 (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi & Marathi) SONY TEN 4 (Telugu & Tamil). The league will be live streamed on the SonyLIV OTT Platform.

How many matches will there be per day and when will they start?

There will be two matches played each day with live coverage starting at 7:00 PM IST.

Complete fixtures list

All you need to know about the Ultimate Kho Kho League

Format

Match: Each match will be played with two innings.

Batch: A group of three defenders who enter the field is called a batch. There will be four batches comprising 12 players in a defending team.

Innings: Each match will consist of two innings where both the teams will attack and defend twice with a three-minute break between two innings.

Turn: Each innings will consist of two turns where a team will attack and defend once with two minutes of break between each turn

Timing of match: Each turn will consist of seven minutes with two-minute break

Starting line-up: There will be 12 players in the starting line-up with three additional players as part of the injury substitute. The playing 12 will include two Wazirs too.

Batch playing format: The remaining batch of the first innings will start first in the next innings whereas only the unbeaten batch i.e in case of all three defenders are not out, has the option to start the next innings else each new batch needs to take field again.

Point System

2 points: Every simple touch will earn an attacking team two points.

Bonus point: One bonus point will be awarded to the attacking team on three occasions: If they capture an opposition player with skilful gameplay like pole dive or sky dive or the defender surrenders (self out/out of field).

This additional bonus point can ensure a total of three points per capture for the attacking side.

Batch bonus: If one batch defends for more than 2 minutes 30 seconds, they will be given two points and then for each 30-second time period, they will keep getting two bonus points until the entire batch gets out or the turn gets over. A maximum of 20 points can be achieved by the attacking side.

Key terms

Wazir: A player taking part in the match as Wazir can move in any direction freely, unlike any other attackers, but only in his attacking half. Points will be awarded the same as a normal player if he captures any player.

Powerplay: The powerplay will allow teams to play with two Wazir on the field at the same time. However, two wazirs can be activated for one batch only. Once all three players of that batch are out, powerplay will be over. Each team will have only one powerplay in one inning.

Review: Teams will have one review per innings i.e. two reviews for the entire match. A review should be taken within five seconds.

Rest time: There will be a 30-second break after each batch is out 30 i.e. all three defenders. This break will allow teams to make substitutes, strategy and new batch will enter.

With the innings, rest breaks and reviews, the match will be played for a period of approximately one hour. And at the end of both the innings, a team with the most points will be declared as the winner.

Full squads

Chennai Quick Guns

Owner: KLO Sports

Head coach: Manohara CA

Players: Mahesh Shinde, Rajvardhan Patil, M Vignesh, Ramji Kashyap, Patta Narsaya, S Santhru, Sibin M, Amit Patil, Manoj Patil, Daasari Rao, V Kabilan, Madan, P Jai Prasath, P Anand Kumar, buchannagari Raju, Vijay Vegad, Sachin Gaur, Pritam Chougule, Balvir Singh, Katla Mohan, Venigopal S, Neelakantam Suresh, Jaswant Singh, Vignesh M

Gujarat Giants

Owner: Adani Sportsline

Head coach: Sanjeev Sharma

Players: Ranjan Shetty, Pothreddy Shivareddy, Mareppa, Suyash Gargate, Sagar Potdar, T Jagannath Das, Rutishbhai Barde, Abhinandan Patil, Akshay Bhangare, Sagar Lengare, Monoj Sarkar, Dhiraj Bhave, S Kavin Raj, Vinayak Pokarde, Govind Bhat, Chinmoy Nandi, Shubham Jambhale, S Sarathkumar, Ajaykumar Mandra, Aniket Pote, Nilesh patil, Saleem Khan, Debendra Nath and Praful Bhange

Mumbai Khiladis

Owner: Janhavi Dhariwal Balan, Punit Balan and Badshah

Head coach: Rajendra Sapte

Players: Milind Kurpe, Rohan Kore, Visag S, Shreejesh S, Vijay Hazare, Faizalkhan Pathan, Abhishek Pathrode, Gajanan Shengal, Durvesh Salunke, Rajesh Kumar, Rohit Verma, Avik Singha, Sribin KP, Saurav Kandpal, Abhishek MS, Bichu SS, Rajat Malik, Rahul Sawant, Harish Mohammad, Devendra Dagur, Gaurav, Srijin J and Ummer Rather

Odisha Juggernauts

Owner: Odisha Sports Development and Promotion Company

Head coach: Ashwani Kumar Sharma

Players: Gowtham MK, Dilip Khandavi, Vishal, Jagannatha Murmu, Aditya Kudale, Nilesh Jadhav, Suraj Lande, Dipesh More, Subhasis Santra, Mahesha P, Avinash Desai, Lipun Mukhi, Dinesh Naik S, Arjun Singh, Suresh Kumar, T Vinod Kumar, Shiv Kumar Sen, Milind Chavrekar, Manoj Ghotekar, Darshanapu Sathish, Gurjinder Singh, Swayam Satyaprakash and Mukesh Prajapat

Rajasthan Warriors

Owner: Capri Global

Head coach: Narendra Kunder

Players: Abhijit Patil, Dilrajsingh Sengar, Sushant Hajare, Akshay Ganpule, Hrushikesh Murchavade, Sourabh Adavkar, Suresh Sawant, Majahar Jamadar, Mohammad Taseen, Shailesh Sankapal, Govind Yadav, SK Murtha Ali, Bharat Pradhan, Nikhil B, Yalla Satish, Jithin B, K Dhananjay Singh, Atla Reddy, Tapan Pal, Mahesh M, Biswajit Das, Ashwani Ranjan, Mukesh Maurya and Bhuvneshwar Sahu

Telugu Yoddhas

Owner: GMR Sports

Head coach: Sumit Bhatia

Players: Pratik Waikar, Rohan Shingade, Sudarshan, Arun S A, Arun Gunki, Deepak Madhav, Avdhut Patil, Prajwal KH, Prajval KH, Adarsh Mohite, Prasad Radye, Subramani Y, Anukul Sarkar, Gavara Venkatesh, Sadanand Meitei, P Hemachandran, Dhruv, Chanish C, Aditya Das, Rokeson Singh, Pitu Reddy and Bojjam Ranjith