Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 15 of PKL 5

One of the most highly anticipated matches of Season 5 produced action worthy of the top billing that it received as UP Yoddha and Patna Pirates went head to head in a tightly contested encounter where the former enjoyed the upper hand for most part of the match but were undone by some nerves in the dying moments to concede a tie. The defence did its homework well to keep Pardeep Narwal quiet but Narwal, being the superstar that he is, made up for all of it with some heroic raiding in the last few minutes to help his team tie the match.

Despite being another action packed game, the next match between Gujarat Fortunegiants and Jaipur Pink Panthers seemed a dull affair after the high octane clash. Both the teams looked conservative with their raiding and the best of the moments came from the defence that helped Gujarat register their third consecutive victory in their home leg.

#1 Pardeep kept quiet before late blitz

Pankaj troubled Pardeep for most part of the match but eventually the raider had the last laugh

Whoever is working as the analyst with the UP Yoddha might soon find himself in demand once the tournament gets over. The team from the north was the one that stopped Rohit Kumar from giving his team a hat trick of wins when they kept him quiet in their match against Bengaluru Bulls. They had a bigger fish, (or let’s just call him the whale after today's performance) to take care of on Sunday and they did a great job at it, a job that showed that the team analyst is helping the team with the homework pretty well.

Pardeep Narwal was left brooding for more than 20 minutes from the sidelines as most of his raid attempts were foiled for the first 35 minutes. Interestingly, it was not the likes of Rajesh Narwal and Jeeva Kumar who led the defence in foiling his raids but a young Pankaj who was extremely impressive on the night. It was as if whatever Pardeep had up his sleeve, Pankaj had an antidote for it. Eventually, when Pardeep got the better of him, he had to lose his shirt as Pankaj’s failed tackle meant that Pardeep escaped with only his shirt left behind for the defender.

However, eventually Pardeep had his man in the dying moments and that turned the game on its head. But his last few minutes blitz can’t take anything away from the good work done by the team’s defence as his raid strike rate was merely 50% on the night.

#2 Birender Singh’s white lie

Nitin Tomar is a boulder for a man and someone claiming that he couldn’t feel his toe touch has to be either on anaesthesia or lying. On Sunday, Birender Singh was found guilty of the latter. In the 30th minute, Nitin Tomar came on to take his raid and kept on teasing both the corners before landing a swift toe touch on right corner Singh. The raider ran back with his hand raised but much to his surprise, the referee didn’t signal a point.

More action was taking place on the Patna side of the mat as Singh animatedly swore by the mat that Tomar was claiming a false raid point. Tomar straightaway went upstairs and the replays showed that it wasn’t a faint touch by any measure that Birender couldn’t have felt. While Tomar only won a solitary point, Singh’s reputation must have come down in the eyes of Kabaddi lovers after that dishonest swearing by the mat.

#3 What was Rajesh Narwal thinking?

Not only Pardeep but no one on the court had any idea what was the other Narwal up to

Normally wily as a fox, Rajesh Narwal took his cheekiness to some other level in the last few seconds of his team's match against Patna Pirates. However, there is only so much that cheekiness can achieve and whatever he was trying to do in those nervy last moments of the game didn’t come off at all.

The moment was one of intense pressure as Pardeep Narwal was back with a spring in his leg in the last five minutes of the second half. When the timeout was taken, the coach suggested Monu Goyat to take the remaining raids. But there is a reason Pardeep is a superstar of this league and he put his hand up instead and brought his team within sniffing distance of Yoddha’s score with some magnificent raiding.

But the match was still not over and when Pardeep Narwal went in to take Patna’s final raid, there were three men on the mat including Rajesh and Patna still a point behind. As Pardeep came on to raid, Rajesh slipped and found himself in the lobby. Consequently, the linesman duly took him out. Whether Rajesh didn’t hear his call or decided to not pay heed to him is unclear as he went back on the mat and tried to hold Pardeep from behind. That’s when the referee intervened and brought an end to the drama. The result of it all was a non-raid technical point that levelled the score which remained so until the last moment.

#4 Iranians prey in pack

Abozar Mighani is the latest foreign recruit to make waves in the Pro Kabaddi League

Any team that has a strong defence will tell you that the base of that unit lies in a strong partnership between two defenders. Gujarat Fortunegiants lack the firepower in their raiding department but the Iranian reinforcements in their defence are quickly developing a reputation for themselves as a pair. Abozar Mighani and Fazel Atrachali stand on either corners of the mat and if either of them has the faintest of chance of landing a tackle on the raider, the other comes in for support in no time. And more often than not, they get the job done.

On Sunday too, both made life difficult for Jaipur who have struggled with their raiding department in the absence of the injured Selvamani K. The big Abozar Mighani brought down Jaipur raiders with his thigh holds while the smiling assassin Atrachali brought in the important blocks. In all, the two gave the team 8 points with their phenomenal defending.

#5 Jaipur’s raiding woes continue

In the last match, Jaipur Pink Panthers rode on Manjeet Chhillar’s individual brilliance to register an unexpected win against Puneri Paltan. But in the absence of that on Sunday evening, the team was found wanting. The team's raiding came a cropper in front of the Fortunegiants defensive unit. Jasvir Singh continues with his mediocre show and looked a pale shadow of all that he was in the previous seasons as a raider. He was galloped by the Iranian pair again and again and even stepped into the lobby in the 26th minute, as if almost surrendering.

Tushar Patil started the match but was soon substituted after some sub-par raiding efforts. Pawan provided some fine raids but up against the Iranian duo, it was only a matter of time before he found himself benched as well. Eventually, it came to a point that Manjeet Chhillar had to come in to raid. The sight of a sorry Manjeet on a young Sunil Kumar’s shoulders trying unsuccessfully to claw his way back in his last raiding bid summed up the night’s raiding effort for Jaipur Pink Panthers.

The team needs to look into their raiding reserves quickly to find a solution to a problem that can put their campaign in complete disarray even before it has begun in the right earnest if not addressed quickly.