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The first leg of Vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 6 just concluded in Chennai. The home team Tamil Thalaivas have lost 4 games on the trot after winning the inaugural match of the season vs the Patna Pirates. The Thalaivas seemed very organized in their game vs the Pirates. The raiding unit scored points easily. The defence led by Amit Hooda executed the game plan on Pardeep Narwal keeping him in check. They won by a 17 point margin.
But after the first match, the raiding unit seemed inconsistent except for Ajay Thakur who really has been their only bright spot. The captain scored 60 points in 5 matches trying his best to help his team. The other raiders Athul, Jasvir, Surjeet Singh all have been good in patches but have not got together to give one solid performance.
Their points combined don't equal Ajay Thakur's points and they have been rotated constantly. The lack of a support raider puts pressure on a player like Ajay Thakur. Monu Goyat was instrumental in Pardeep's great form last season and the Thalaivas need a player like that to ably support Ajay.
The rotation has led to instability. The absence of experienced Sukesh Hegde also raises questions on the selections.
The defence is looking worse than the raiders.
After a good performance against the Pirates, the defence has performed poorly scoring just 29 points in 4 matches. Right corner defender Amit Hooda was good versus the Telugu Titans. Apart from that, he has pretty much been absent scoring just 11 points.
Big name Manjeet Chillar was good in patches in his left corner position scoring 16 points. He was otherwise reckless in certain scenarios and conceded more points than he scored. He was signed not only for his all-round abilities but also for his experience and leadership skills. He looks uncertain in his new role under Ajay Thakur and seemed jaded throughout the leg.
He asked for a review for conceding a bonus point against the Bengaluru Bulls when Ajay Thakur politely advised him not to do so. The review was unsuccessful and Ajay Thakur was adjudged out in a raid later. Replays showed that he was not out and they could have got three points but the review was lost. Manjeet should respect Ajay's role as the captain and allow him to go about things his way.
The cover defenders in comparison to the corners seemed clueless and scored only 8 points in total. C.Arun, Darshan, Ponparthiban and Gopu and Sunil were rotated constantly and none of them made an impact. They were immature and attempted juvenile tackles.
The defence certainly looked unprepared against the raiders of the other teams. This may be because they focused mostly on their first fixture and on tackling Pardeep Narwal. They didn't have a proper game plan for players like Rishank, Rahul Chaudhari and Maninder. This lack of preparation and immaturity from the defence cost them the games.
In Thursday's match versus the Bengal Warriors, the Warriors were facing an all out. Rakesh Narwal came into raid and Manjeet Chillar rushed in with a dash. The other defenders rushed to support him and pounced on his upper body not covering his lower body and legs with which he crossed the middle line. The 2 defenders could have each taken the upper body and lower body but they panicked and tried to silence the raider with brute force. If they had converted the chance, they could have won the match but they failed to do so.
Telugu Titans captain Rahul Chaudhari was tackled the first time he came to raid against the Thalaivas. When we thought that the Thalaivas were prepared for him, they went for solo tackles and conceded easy points to the 'Raid Machine'. Experienced Manjeet Chillar attempted 2 tackles both of which were multiple point raids. The young cover defenders due to a lack of awareness rushed to support his weak tackle.
The juvenile and immature tackles combined with their inability to retreat in time made the defenders sitting ducks for the opposition raiders. Pawan Shehrawat of the Bengaluru Bulls capitalized on this and plundered his way to twenty points.
An inconsistent raiding unit and the immature defensive unit will be on the coach Baskaran's mind. He'll hope that the team will hit back strongly in their next fixture.
The team management has six days to regroup and settle with a starting 7 and stabilize the unit. The Thalaivas have to be consistent and composed and have to support their captain Ajay Thakur and bounce back when they face the Bengaluru Bulls on 17th October.
