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In a clash of two teams led by players from the services, Nitin Tomar's UP Yoddha took on Surjeet Singh's Bengal Warriors. With both teams coming into the game high on confidence, it was a much-awaited fixture, especially to see how the Yoddha would cope with the Warriors' excellent defensive unit. It was a rout in the end as a depleted Yoddha side simply could not cope with a loaded Warriors team.
Former teammates faced off in the second clash of the night. Rohit Kumar and Pardeep Narwal were both of the winning Patna Pirates side from Season 3 in which Rohit was named Most Valuable Player. Rohit left for Bengaluru the following season, but Pardeep has since emerged a megastar in his own right, guiding the Pirates to a second successive title last year. And after getting the better of Rahul Chaudhari in two encounters already, he got the better of another contemporary in Rohit Kumar as the Pirates beat the Bulls 46-32 to remain unbeaten.
#1 Yoddha struggle in Rishank's absence
Rishank Devadiga is one of the premier raiders in Pro Kabaddi. Roped in by the new UP Yoddha team to lead the raiding department alongside captain Nitin Tomar, he had gotten off to a fine start. However, he succumbed to injury during Saturday's match against the Bengaluru Bulls and on Sunday was left out for the clash against the Bengal Warriors.
His absence was a huge blow for the UP team as the burden of raid points fell on Nitin Tomar. Yoddha have other raiders in Mahesh Goud and Surender Singh, but they are not of the same quality. The Warriors, marshaled by ace defender Surjeet Singh, completely neutralized the Yoddha's attack in Rishank's absence.
The Warriors got Nitin out quickly and went on to inflict an all out within eight minutes to take a massive 11-2 lead. They finished the half strongly inflicting another all out to go into the break with a commanding 22-8 lead.
To make matters worse for the Yoddha, captain Nitin was subbed off late in the first half with an ankle injury and did not return.
#2 Biggest winning margin of the season
With Rishank already missing, one feared the worst for the Yoddha when Nitin Tomar was forced out due to injury. The day just went from bad to worse after that. Their raiders went for unnecessary tackles and made mistakes. Everyone on the Warriors unit enjoyed the spoils. Vinod Kumar helped himself to a very impressive 8 points to emerge as the top scorer of the game.
Vinod had six impressive raid points and also had two tackle points. Their star raiders completed the top three scorers list as Jang Kun Lee and Maninder Singh pocketed seven and six points respectively. The defense manned by captain Surjeet and Ran Singh didn't give anything away to the Yoddha's raiding department making it a comprehensive all-round display. The latter finished with five tackle points to his name. The Warriors had 22 raid points to 9 tackle points and inflicted three all outs.
All of this meant a massive win for the Warriors as the 22-8 advantage at half-time ultimately ballooned to a 40-20 scoreline at the final buzzer to make it the biggest winning margin of Season 5 of Pro Kabaddi.
#3 Pardeep puts on a masterclass to tame the Bulls
We all know Pardeep Narwal is an extraordinary raider and true superstar of the game. Yet, there are occasions when he just puts an absolute show that leaves you marveling at his exploits. Tonight was one such night.
He put the Bulls to the sword skinning them for points on almost every raid that he went in for. He also did it in such a variety of ways - there was the toe-touch, the hand-touch, the frog jump, the dubki, the scorpion kick, a 360-degree turn, a somersault even. The Bulls had simply no answer for him as the skill level on display was simply extraordinary.
He had a Super 10 in just the first half alone as he inflicted two all outs on the Bulls and quite impressively, those 10 points came off just eight raids. If there's one thing you do today, make sure you check out Pardeep's highlights.
The MVP of Season 4 eventually finished with 15 points to follow up his 12 and 15 point performances from his previous two matches. The young superstar seems to be on quite the roll so far in Season 5 and will take some stopping.
Also read: Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Top 5 raiders from the Hyderabad leg
#4 No fourth Super 10 for Rohit
Rohit Kumar, like Pardeep Narwal, had started brilliantly this season with three straight Super 10s coming into this game. He had crossed 10 raid points in every match and his team definitely needed another to have a chance.
He was kept quiet though by a strong Pirates defence led by the impressive Vishal Mane. Rohit spent over 15 minutes off the mat after being tackled multiple times. And even when he wasn't tackled, he was given just bonus points by the stingy Patna defence or empty raids.
There was to be no fourth Super 10 for Rohit. Although, in fairness, one wonders if even a Super 10 would have helped change the result tonight. It would have gotten them closer for sure.
#5 Good day for the Vinod Kumars
It was a good day for players named Vinod Kumar.
In the first game, the Bengal Warriors' Vinod Kumar had an impressive all-round game as he picked up 8 points to be the top scorer in his side's mauling of the UP Yoddha with 6 raid points and 2 tackle points. Two of those raid points came on a flying raid where he used a frog jump to leap nearly 3 feet in the year to evade the corner defender Santhosh and then scurry to evade Jeeva Kumar, one of the moments of the night.
The Pirates' Vinod put in an equally good showing just as his namesake did earlier in the night. In an even more balanced performance, he picked up 3 raid points and 4 tackle points to finish with 7 points overall and serve a key role on both ends of the mat for the Pirates. His performance was so good that the Pirates could even afford to sub a key defender like Sachin Shingade out of the game.
Behind the stars, these unheralded names provided able support tonight to ensure that their respective teams picked up big wins.
Related: Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: "Anybody can try the dubki but Pardeep Narwal is the master," says U Mumba's Anup Kumar
