Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 35 of PKL 5

North clashed with south while east clashed with west in the Inter zone challenge week on Thursday as Dabang Delhi took on the Bengaluru Bulls and the Bengal Warriors played U Mumba at the Netaji Subhash Indoor Stadium.

Rohit Kumar's team gave a good account of themselves in the first half but were done in by Dabang captain Meraj Sheykh who brought the house down with some awe inspiring raids on the night to earn himself a Super 10.

In the other game of the day, U Mumba gave another commanding performance and gave the home team their second consecutive defeat and also some concerns going into their next fixture.

Here are the five talking points of the day.

#1 Abolfazl comes to party

Before his injury, it was Maghsodlou who did the damage for Delhi in the first half

Most teams in Season 5 have struggled with the absence of a firing second go to raider. Delhi themselves haven’t got going in the tournament because of a lack of a strong raider in the team. Meraj Sheykh has done his job in a number of games for the team but at the end of the day, he is an all rounder whose raiding skills are exceptionally good but not a fully fledged raider.

With the tournament inching closer to its business end now, Dabang Delhi needed a raider to step up if they wanted to keep themselves in the hunt. And on Wednesday, Abolfazl Maghsodlou did it for Delhi.

The tall Iranian was brilliant in the first half and like he has done on several occasions, made superb use of his height to win some mental battles against the Bulls. He suffered an injury in the second half that took some sting out of him and allowed Meraj to take over.

He, however, still ended with impressive figures of eight points from 12 raid attempts. The raider has been pretty good for the team this season and has just made nine unsuccessful raid attempts in front of 32 successful raids. With Meraj in form and Maghsodlou coming into his own too, Dabang Delhi can grow into contenders if they can string together a few more wins in the coming fixtures.

#2 Meraj magic leaves Bulls dazed

The second half of the match was lit up by Meraj's magical raiding

Meraj Sheykh has grown as a captain over his stint with the team this season and has also cut down on risks as a raider to be there on the mat for longer periods. That’s why in the first half, the raiding duties were handled largely by Abolfazl. But when the team went into the first half trailing the Bulls by five points, it seemed as if the team needed something more despite having fared decently in the first twenty minutes

That’s when Meraj Sheykh stepped up. He was challenged by three men in the Bengaluru defence who were waiting for Meraj to make a mistake and grab some super tackle points. And not once, not twice but on four occasions in the second half, Meraj came on top in such battles with Bengaluru defenders.

The dodge that he gave to the defenders on all those occasions was stuff made of dreams. He inflicted two All Outs on Bengaluru Bulls to help his team take the upper hand in the contest. Even in his team’s last raid when he could have simply killed time, he chose to go on the offensive and got his team one more point and denied Bengaluru Bulls one point that they were trying to eke out of the game.

#3 Anup’s first half

Anup Kumar's consistency has proved to be unparalleled this season

The Pro Kabaddi League has seen several fine all rounders yet no one fits the term better than U Mumba captain Anup Kumar. Apart from raiding and defending, the man is involved in the game all the time he is on the mat with his proactive captaincy. He excelled in all three departments in the game against the Bengal Warriors and gave the moment of the first half. First, he provided a brilliant example of an ankle hold and brought down a Bengal raider.

But it was what he did next that left a few jaws dropped in the stadium. Up against Rann Singh and Bhupinder Singh and with an All Out opportunity lurking around the corner, Anup Kumar displayed exceptional escape skills when he overcame the big Bhupinder who for once seemed to have the U Mumba captain in his grasp.

It later emerged that Rann Singh had already done a self out and his challenge was illegal in the first place but it could do nothing to diminish the awesomeness of Kumar’s raid effort.

#4 The Maninder vs Arup show

For the second night in a row, Maninder Singh was exceptional but didn't receive support

When the match looked done and dusted, the Bengal Warriors did what they have been doing so well throughout the season. They raised their game several notches up in the last five minutes or so and threatened a comeback. As in the last game, the man leading that comeback was Maninder Singh.

It looked as if a window of opportunity had opened for them when they left U Mumba with just two men on the mat. But one of those two men was a certain Anup Kumar. The next couple of minutes saw Warriors’ Maninder leaving U Mumba with just one man after which Anup Kumar revived a teammate with a raid point.

Anup Kumar made four consecutive successful raids and so did Maninder. The curious sequence finally came to an end when Anup Kumar did a self out against Maninder but by then it was too late for Bengal to make a comeback.

#5 Rann Singh's unsavoury act

Frustration got the better of Rann Singh in the dying minutes of the game

After being denied the All Out continuously by Anup Kumar, the Warriors got frustrated. The frustration was natural as with every passing second, their window of opportunity to mount a late challenge was also closing. Yet, nothing warranted what Rann Singh committed in the game's dying moments.

Anup Kumar, as U Mumba's last man on the mat, had again come looking for a touch point that would revive a teammate. And like on the previous occasions, he succeeded. His victim this time was Warriors', Rann Singh. With Anup Kumar on the retreat, Singh walked up to the mid line and pushed Anup forcefully in frustration.

The referee didn't bring out any card realizing that there wasn't enough time in the game anyway but it was an act not deserving to be there on the mat. Eventually, it was Anup Kumar who had the last laugh as his team won the match with him collecting eight points.