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The Chennai leg of the sixth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League came to a thrilling finish as in the opening game of the day, UP Yoddha and Patna Pirates traded blow for blow as the Pirates reigned supreme in the end, to win 43-41 when the final whistle was blown.
In the second game, also the Thalaivas' final home game, Bengal Warriors added insult to injury as they came up on top to inflict the Thalaivas' fourth straight loss in five games with a 36-27 victory at full time.
While the Thalaivas did not enjoy the best of campaigns in their home leg, the first few days of the season was bedecked with a lot of action as Pune and U Mumba played out a draw and less than twenty fours hours later, the tension was back in the air as Dabang Delhi drew with the Gujarat Fortunegiants.
The Paltan, led by Girish Ernak came back strong to register a 34-22 win over the Haryana Steelers while the UP Yoddha also got off to a strong start with a commanding 37-32 victory over the hosts.
The Thalaivas, bruised from their two losses were pitted against the Telugu Titans, who only added salt to the wounds with a 33-28 win over the Ajay Thakur-led side. U Mumba then faced off against Anup Kumar's Pink Panthers, who relinquished a lead to succumb 39-32 to Fazel Athrachali's side.
At the end of ten exciting encounters, there were a lot of top moments from the raiders on the show. Here are the top five raiders from the Chennai leg.
#5 Nitin Tomar - Puneri Paltan
Leading the Puneri Paltan raiding unit, Nitin Tomar enjoyed a top start to the season as he picked up 15 points from 20 raids in Pune's 32-32 draw with U Mumba. A man with a wealth of experience, Tomar continually kept his team in the hunt and repaid the faith his team entrusted in him.
However, he was not in the best of form against the Steelers, as he picked just 7 points from 16 raids and although the figures do not paint a pretty picture, Tomar has done well to essay the role of the lead raider for the Paltan.
Total points - 22 raid points from 2 matches.
#2 Pardeep Narwal - Patna Pirates
The Patna skipper looked a pale shadow of himself in the Asian Games and was determined to make a mark in the opening game against the Thalaivas. Without a quality support raider of the quality such as Monu Goyat, Pardeep was under the pump but collected a Super 10 against the Thalaivas.
He brought out the 'Dubki', a smart set of touch points to pick eleven points from the encounter. In their next game, Pardeep started slow and was often brought down by Nitesh Kumar but found his bearings as he kept his tally going with clever running hand touches and bonus points to finish with 16 points from the game.
Total points: 27 raid points from 2 matches.
#3 Siddharth Sirish Desai - U Mumba
A lanky raider making his debut in the Pro Kabaddi League with U Mumba, young Siddharth Desai was in top form right through both of U Mumba's games in the opening leg.
Playing his first game against the Puneri Paltan, Desai showed no signs of nerves as he made Sandeep Narwal's tackle attempts futile while also running through the rest of the defence as he finished with 14 points.
In the next game against the Pink Panthers, Siddharth was pitted against the likes of Mohit Chhillar and Bajirao Hodage but that did not matter as he portrayed an image of a specialist raider, going about his task with precision to finish with 13 points from that encounter.
Total Points: 28 raid points from 2 matches
#2 Pawan Kumar Sehrawat - Bengaluru Bulls
Playing his first game for the Bulls post the auctions where he was bought for a large sum of money, Pawan Sehrawat proved his mettle with some top-flight raids. Such was his proficiency on the day that Pawan picked up points in each of his first four raids that followed a terrific three-point super raid.
However, his real spotlight moment came when he powered through the whole of the Thalaivas defence to pick five points in a single raid, which piled the pressure on the Thalaivas to a point from there was no return.
With 18 points in the first half, Pawan started with two points in two raids from the second half before an unfortunate injury saw him sit out for the rest of the game.
Total Points: 20 raid points from 1 match.
#1 Ajay Thakur - Tamil Thalaivas
The Thalaivas skipper was in his element right throughout all the Thalaivas' games and emerged as one of the only bright spots in a woeful home leg for the Thalaivas. In the opening game against Patna, Ajay picked up 14 points while in the next game against UP, he finished with 12 raid points.
Against a tight-knit Telugu Titans defence unit, Ajay amassed nine points from 17 raids, his only non-Super ten effort from five games. In a match that was dominated by the Bengaluru Bulls, Ajay kept chipping away with the points, as he top-scored with 20 points.
In their final home game against the Bengal Warriors, Ajay looked slightly perturbed by the string of losses as he finished with just 6 points from 14 raids, finishing off the home leg with a total of 58 raid points from 5 matches.
Total points: 58 points from 5 matches.
