Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: 5 talking points from Day 10 of PKL 5

The power-packed Pro Kabaddi evening began with the two teams, who had produced the first tie of PKL 5, Gujarat Fortunegiants and Haryana Steelers, meeting again to produce yet another tight contest in front of a packed Mankapur Indoor Stadium in Nagpur. In the first half, it was a hard-fought game before the Fortunegiants ran out of fortune as well as steam against a more resolute Steelers to give the Haryana side a comfortable win.

In the second match, the Bengaluru Bulls hosted familiar foes Telugu Titans in their new home stadium and both teams put on their best defensive displays to give another nerve-wracking tied game.

Had it not been for Rahul Chaudhari's last second of madness, the Titans would have almost managed to snatch a momentous come-from-behind victory in the match. The men in yellow continue to look for their second win and their winless streak is now stretched to six.

Here are the five talking points from Day 10 of Pro Kabaddi League Season 5!

#1 Atrachali loses in the game of deception to Nada

Nada got both raid and tackle points on Tuesday for his team

With little separating the two teams and the half-time buzzer just seconds away, Surender Nada gave the game its brightest moment. Having come to raid primarily to eat up some time and hold on to the paltry lead, Nada was doing his job well until Fazel Atrachali opened to him the window of opportunity. Realizing that Nada had no intention to raid, Atrachali did the cardinal sin of Kabaddi – take his focus off the game.

As the Iranian on the left corner turned his head to speak to the coaching staff, Nada showed great presence of mind and ran to catch him off guard and by the time the Gujarat man could react, Nada had run back to his side after completing a successful raid.

When Atrachali came to raid in 27th minute, he tried to return the favor as he landed a hefty kick on Nada's chest before being tackled by the Steelers defenders.

#2 The curious case of Wazir Singh

With his sorry performances, it remains to be seen how long will Wazir Singh be persisted with

What would any team want their primary raider to do? Get as many raid points as he can. However, the Haryana Steelers’ raiding tactics have been nothing short of baffling on that account.

The team has persisted with Wazir Singh as a raider despite the man showing no signs of effectiveness in that role. In fact, in both the matches against Gujarat Fortunegiants, he never looked threatening enough to effect raids.

Had the Steelers suffered from weak bench strength, Wazir’s time on the court would not have raised many eyebrows. However, Wazir being the team’s primary raider even in the presence of Surjeet Singh made little sense on Tuesday as he kept on producing one empty raid after another. It wasn't surprising that the Steelers had just as many raid points as their opponents and the huge margin of victory owed much to the brilliance raiding of Mohit Chhillar and Surender Nada.

#3 Mohit Chhillar bounces back

Mohit Chhillar finished with 7 tackle points in his 7 tackle attempts

The third season of Pro Kabaddi League had taken Mohit Chhillar from the dusty grounds of Haryana and put him in the spotlight. The certificate for the same came in the form of the highest auction price for the man in the auctions ahead of Season 4. After that, however, the graph saw a rapid decline as the star defender found himself in an unfamiliar condition at Bengaluru Bulls and turned in performances that did no justice to either his price tag or his reputation.

In the fifth season, Chhillar was brought by Haryana Steelers and reunited with the man he had set Pro Kabaddi League alight during his time at U Mumba – Surender Nada. Away from the limelight, Chhillar has picked up his game and got his groove back with Nada manning the left corner.

On Tuesday evening, he proved the difference between the two teams as all his seven attempts at tackles resulted in points. He hardly gave anything away and made life extremely difficult for the Fortunegiants raiders.

#4 Pahal’s lunge and Chaudhari’s injury

There was an injury scare for Rahul Chaudhari and Ravinder Pahal

The southern derby began as a tense affair as neither of the teams budged and both the star raiders, Rohit Kumar and Rahul Chaudhari, were kept quiet by the respective defenses. With every passing moment, scoring raid points just got more and more difficult in the match.

In the 16th minute, a desperate Rahul Chaudhari came in search of his second raid point after five unsuccessful raids attempts. He had outfoxed Ravider Pahal earlier in the game to get his first raid point and sending Chaudhari deep into left corner, Pahal thought he had his chance to take his revenge. He lunged across the mat as Chaudhari began to retreat. Pahal failed miserably as Chaudhari easily crossed the midline but not before hitting his leg against Pahal’s head.

While Chaudhari limped back to safety, a wouded Pahal needed medical attention on the mat, raising concerns among viewers. However, both thankfully took the mat post half time, rubbishing fears of any serious injury. Yet the Chaudhari Pahal scoreline read Chaudhari 2 – Pahal 0.

#5 Nerves get the better of Chaudhari in the dying moments

Rohit failed to make much of an impact and was on the bench in the crucial dying moments of the game

After dramatically leveling scores in the dying moments of the game, Telugu Titans had a brilliant opportunity to score their second win of the tournament when Rahul Chaudhari went in to take the final raid of the match with just two Bengaluru Bulls defenders left on the mat and his team trailing by just one. On another occasion, a seasoned Chaudhari would have hardly broken a sweat in collecting two points and an all out. But, on Tuesday, nerves got the better of the mercurial raider.

With the Titans trailing by a solitary point, Chaudhari took out Preetam Chhillar and with an eternity left to score another point, retreated back to his side. Even Ashish Sangwan, the lone Bulls defender left on the mat, was left wondering what saved him on the night. It was only after going back to his den did Chaudhari realize that his raid had only managed to level the score and he had squandered a golden opportunity to score two points to win the game for his team. Chaudhari still finished the game with 8 raid points.