Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 42 of PKL 5

The last day of the Haryana leg of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 had only one fixture for the crowds at the Motilal School of Sports, who came hoping to see the Dhaakad Boys finish their home leg on a high in a match against bottom placed Jaipur Pink Panthers.

The Haryana Steelers, without the services of their best defenders, had the match under control for the first 35 minutes but some brilliant raiding by young Nitin Rawal ensured that they didn't finish their home leg with a win. The 27-27 tie though, helped the Steelers to go to the top of the table while the Panthers managed to leapfrog Dabang Delhi to fifth position on the table

Here are the five talking points from the day!

#1 Contrasting defensive performances by the teams

Young Vikas impressed in the absence of usual right corner Mohit Chhillar

The decision to rest both Surender Nada and Manjeet Chillar looked baffling at the beginning of the game, especially with the opposition team coming back to full strength after a long time by bringing in Manjeet Chhillar and Jasvir Singh into the mix. And it looked worse when both the replacement corners began proceedings by conceding easy points. For once, it seemed the Haryana defence would fare poorly in the absence of their best defenders.

However, as the game progressed, right corner Vikas started delivering the goods with some impressive ankle holds on Jasvir Singh and Tushar Patil. On the other hand, the Panthers defence came a cropper despite the presence of Manjeet Chhilar and couldn’t bring about a single tackle point in their first half. Chhillar had a woeful comeback match except for the couple of crucial tackle points he got his team in the last few minutes of the game.

#2 Wazir Singh's injury scare

Wazir recovered from his injury but the team didn't risk him further and was substituted

Wazir Singh had a horrid night against Puneri Paltan and the impetus was on him to turn it around for himself and his team in their last home game. But it didn’t begin on the best of the notes for the man in blue. Going in to raid in the seventh minute of the game, Wazir was successful in getting a raid point against Selvam but lay wincing in pain on the mat seconds after pushing his hand across the midline with his hand around his chest.

His condition didn’t improve any time soon resulting in medical assistance to arrive on the court. The crowds started chanting 'Wazir, Wazir' as things started appearing bad for the raider. But the chanting seemed to work wonders for the man who rose up on his feet soon and was back on raiding duties again before being substituted for the game.

#3 Young Mayur stuns Panthers

Mayur looked threatening every time he came on to raid for the Steelers

Having celebrated his 22nd his birthday a day before the team's fixture against the Panthers, young Steelers all rounder Mayur Shivtarkar continued the party the next evening too. The Panthers, however, weren’t invited as he made them his feast. With Jaipur having Manjeet Chhillar on court among the last three men, they played on their opponents' do-or-die raid in the first half and took quick empty raids with the hopes of enforcing a super tackle.

But it all backfired when Mayur took out Chhillar with ease with a running hand touch in his first raid attempt of the night. He came back again with his opponents reduced to two men on court and brought them on the verge of an All Out with a little game of bluff. He unsettled the right corner by indicating to the referee that the defender had committed a self out and then got the other defender with hand touch.

#4 Dahiya comes good again

The spectacular scorpion kick by Dahiya provided the moment of the day

Having given a longish run by the management, Deepak Kumar Dahiya has started to come quietly into his own as the tournament approaches its business end. He was impressive on the previous night and continued with his good work even against the Jaipur Pink Panthers on Thursday. He didn’t have the most number of points on the night as that achievement belonged to Panthers Nitin Rawal but his raid attempts were spectacular.

He got the scorpion kick work for him on the night and also brandished his flying hand touch which is extremely difficult to execute but was made to look simple by Dahiya on every occasion. Although he couldn’t win the game for his team, his performance must have infused a lot of confidence into the Steelers team whose struggles with their raiding department now seem a thing of past with the likes of Dahiya, Shivtarkar and Rai rising up to the occasion.

#5 Rapid Rawal steals a win from the Steelers

Rawal had a strike rate of 65% in the match and was the best raider on the mat

Right after the final timeout, young Panthers raider Nitin Rawal put in a raid that would have made any raider proud. Despite Jasvir Singh insisting that he would take the first raid after the break, captain Chhillar gave Nitin Rawal the responsibility. And it paid off spectacularly well for the Panthers. Having gone deep into the left corner and having got a finger tip on Rakesh’s shirt, Rawal jumped into the lobby and dodged two charging defenders to give his team three raid points and earn himself a super raid.

When the referee refused to give him three, he straightaway went upstairs and got himself a super raid that left the Steelers with a single man on the court and an imminent All Out which was taken in the subsequent raid. The super raid brought the Panthers right back into the match who leveled the scores soon in the 37th minute and ended the game with a tie. Rawal ended the game with 11 raid points from 17 attempts.