3. Deepak Niwas Hooda (Puneri Paltan)
If Puneri Paltan managed to repeat their third-place finish of Season 3 in the recently-concluded PKL4, then it is mostly because of this man. In the absence of their injured skipper Manjeet Chillar, the onus fell on the 22-year-old Deepak Niwas Hooda to lead the team and it was remarkable to see how well he rose to the challenge.
His two crushing knocks of 17 came at the right juncture and were instrumental in helping the Pune side maintain their third spot. One came in the orange brigade’s crucial do-or-die tie against Dabang Delhi that almost sealed his team’s place in the last-four stage. The other one saw an unperturbed Hooda cancelling out Rahul Chaudhari’s smashing 18 points in the 3rd/4th place play-off to guide the Paltan to a 40-35 victory over the Titans.
The Rohtak boy ended PKL4 right up there with the very best, trailing only Chaudhari in the number of successful raids with 108 and a dazzling effectiveness of 6.75 per match.
