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Having almost reached its halfway stage, Pro Kabaddi 2019 is nicely set up with a close fight expected amongst the teams in the race to the playoffs. At the end of the Delhi Leg, all the teams have played 11 games with Dabang Delhi sitting pretty at the top of the table with nine victories.
The Delhi Leg at the Thyagaraja Sports Complex started off with the hosts Dabang Delhi taking on the defending champions Bengaluru Bulls. Although the Bulls started off well and remained in the lead for a majority of the match, Joginder Narwal's men brought out their A-game in the final few minutes as they helped their team to a two-point victory over the Bulls.
Post that game, Delhi did not lose a single game at their home-turf as they finished their home leg on a high with a thrilling win over the Patna Pirates on the final day in Delhi.
With the race for the playoffs heating up, the raiders of a team could prove to be important and on that note, here are five players with the highest raid points until the end of the Delhi leg.
#5 Siddharth Desai
Although Siddharth Desai started off in a rough fashion this season, he has slowly returned back to form in the last few weeks. He was excellent in the Chennai leg but at the Thyagaraja Sports Complex in Delhi, Siddharth could not add much to his tally with unconvincing performances in the two games that he played here.
However, he still holds on to this spot in this list as his tally now reads at 80 points from 11 games. Telugu Titans still have a chance to make it to the playoffs but Siddharth has to fire on all cylinders for that to happen. He must certainly improve on his average of 7.09 raid points per match and try to take it closer to his season six average of 10.38 raid points per game.
#4 Maninder Singh
Maninder Singh has led the Bengal Warriors from the front with fine performances on the mat this season. The man from Punjab has scored 92 points from 11 games this season and has helped his team remain in the top half of the table.
Along with K Prapanjan and Mohammad Nabibakhsh, Maninder has joined hands with the duo to form an impressive raiding unit for Bengal Warriors this edition.
Maninder's record so far includes four Super 10s at an average of 8.36 raid points per match. In the Delhi leg, Maninder played two games and picked a total of 24 points as he faced off first against the Haryana Steelers and then the Tamil Thalaivas. Particularly in the game against the Steelers, Maninder was in good touch as he picked up 15 points from that encounter.
His form will be vital if Bengal Warriors look to cement their place in the playoffs and be in with a chance to secure their maiden PKL title.
#3 Pardeep Narwal
Despite the Patna Pirates forgettable campaign thus far, Pardeep Narwal has continued to impress with his extraordinary performances on the mat. The 'Dubki King' picked up 18 points in the solitary game that he played in the Delhi leg but was unable to get his side across the line against the Gujarat Fortune Giants.
However, Pardeep Narwal is a match-winner and he will be the sole man who could turn things around for Patna this season. He has amassed 104 points from 11 games thus far and boasts of an impressive average of 9.45 raid points per game too. He would only want a bit of support from his teammates to account a few wins for his team in the coming days.
#2 Pawan Sehrawat
Pawan Kumar Sehrawat has dropped down to No.2 in this list of top raiders this season. While the main reason for this has been the form of Naveen, Pawan did not do too bad as he picked up 25 points from the two games that he played in the Delhi leg.
While he was impressive against the hosts in the first game of the leg with 18 points, he picked up 7 points in Bengaluru's win over Jaipur Pink Panthers. Pawan's tally now reads at 128 raid points from eleven games which include six Super 10s as well.
He has been notching up raid points at an average of 11.63 per game and we could as well see Pawan take his No.1 position back from the youngster at the end of the Bengaluru leg.
#1 Naveen Kumar
Although Pawan Sehrawat still leads in the list of total points amassed this season, Naveen Kumar has overtaken Pawan as the leading raid-point scorer in this tournament after the completion of the Delhi leg.
As part of his home leg, Naveen returned with 55 points from 4 games which took his tally to 130 points from 11 games, a stat which is phenomenal for a youngster who is playing just his second PKL season.
Naveen's consistency with the Super 10s has been outstanding with the Dabang Delhi man having just missed just one game so far in this edition without a Super 10 . He is picking up raid points at an average of 11.81 per game and has also impressed with his not-out percentage of 89.81%.
If Naveen can carry this momentum to the upcoming games, Delhi could well become the first team to qualify for the playoffs this season.
