Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 62 of PKL 5

Day two of the Jaipur leg gave us two intense, exciting contests that went down to the wire. The first match of the day saw Haryana Steelers edge out Telugu Titans 32-30 thanks to Wazir Singh's brilliance.

Hosts Jaipur Pink Panthers then secured a much-needed 36-32 win over U Mumba in the second encounter of the day to keep their chances of finishing in the Super Playoff spots alive.

Here are the talking points from day 62 of season five of the Pro Kabaddi League:

#1 Brilliant showing by the raiders for both Steelers and Titans

If yesterday was dominated by defenders, tonight was the turn of the raiders to showcase their proficiency, and the match between Haryana Steelers and Telugu Titans showed just that.

Of the 62 points scored combined in the match, only six were tackle points while 47 were raid points.

Telugu Titans got strong contributions from captain Rahul Chaudhari and Nilesh Salunke, with the former scoring 11 points and the latter putting in a great performance and getting 10 points.

For the Steelers, Wazir Singh played out of his skin and scored 14 points and Surjeet Singh and Deepak Kumar Dahiya chipped in with four and five points respectively.

During the course of the match, Chaudhari also became the first player in Pro Kabaddi League history to reach the 700-point mark.

#2 Wazir Singh the true kingpin for Haryana Steelers

The experienced Wazir Singh put in a performance for the ages, scoring 14 points and tilting the match in Haryana's favour.

The 27-year-old raider from Haryana made his comeback to the league in season five after two seasons out with a bad ligament injury, and got a chance to play for his home team, the Steelers.

Wazir has had a solid outing so far this season, having scored a total of 100 points from 19 matches. His ability to secure touch points with ease helped his team get players back immediately after the Titans scored a point, allowing them to defend with numbers.

Apart from his regular point-scoring, what was impressive was Singh's ability to target players from the Titans on his raids.

The man from Haryana eliminated Telugu talisman Rahul Chaudhari on two occasions, the second time helped the Steelers turn the encounter on its head and seal their win.

He also took advantage of Vishal Bharadwaj's eagerness on a couple of occasions, eliminating him and ensuring the Titans' best defender was not in play for a few plays.

#3 U Mumba knocked out of Super Playoff contention

U Mumba's 36-32 loss to the Jaipur Pink Panthers has put them out of the race for a spot in the Super Playoffs. The champions of season two, the Mumbai franchise will now play for pride as they attempt to end the season as high up the table as possible.

Despite getting decent contributions from captain Anup Kumar, who scored six points, and Kashiling Adake, who added seven points, U Mumba faltered in the big moments and allowed the Pink Panthers to take the match away from them.

They couldn't get enough stops consistently, with only right corner Hadi Oshtorak making some crucial tackles, scoring four points.

For Jaipur, the win keeps their faint hopes of qualifying for the Super Playoffs alive. With four more matches at home to come, they would be hoping to make the most of their advantage and put themselves in the best position possible to qualify.

Captain Manjeet Chhillar scored six tackle points, adding another High 5 in the process, with raiders Jasvir Singh and Pawan Kumar Kadian scoring nine and six points respectively.

#4 Jasvir Singh delivers against U Mumba, again

The wily raider rose to the occasion and scored nine points, helping Jaipur Pink Panthers defeat their biggest rivals, U Mumba 36-32 in a high-octane, ill-tempered clash.

The rivalry between Jaipur and Mumbai goes back to the first season of the Pro Kabaddi League, when the Panthers lifted the trophy, defeating the team from Mumbai in the final, with Jasvir Singh putting in a great performance.

Their encounter earlier in the season also saw tempers flare, with Jasvir shown a yellow card and given a two-minute suspension for arguing against the referee's calls. U Mumba skipper Anup Kumar had hit out at Jasvir's behaviour post the encounter.

Playing with a chip on his shoulder, the Jaipur raider used all his experience, raiding smartly, wasting time well and improvising with his ability to engage in constant discussions and fights with the opposition and the referees to give his team the advantage.

#5 A day of bonus points and TV reviews

The encounter between Haryana Steelers and Telugu Titans was essentially determined by two TV raids, both of which worked out to the advantage of the Steelers.

The first review was called for by Titans captain Rahul Chaudhari, who appealed when he thought he was wrongfully denied a bonus point early in the first half. The review was unsuccessful and they lost their chance to challenge any calls later in the game.

The second review was used by the Haryana Steelers in the last minute of the clash, challenging the referee's decision to award the Titans a bonus point for Nilesh Salunke crossing the baulk line.

That successful review helped them retain a 31-30 lead and allowed Wazir Singh to seal the win with a smart final raid.

The second match of the night also saw a slew of reviews, with Jaipur Pink Panthers reviewing successfully twice in the first half to build an early advantage, before losing their review because of an unsuccessful challenge.

After a couple of successful reviews for Mumbai, they were denied a challenge that looked very difficult to call, and without the benefit of the doubt, they lost the right to review for the rest of the match.

In an encounter that saw a couple of dubious calls involving Jasvir Singh, none more so than his touch point dismissal of Hadi Oshtorak that sent the Iranian out late in the first half, U Mumba were left to rue the decisions as they could not challenge the calls made.

Edited by Arvind Sriram