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With the first leg of Season 5 of the Pro Kabaddi League finally done and dusted, it is time for the teams to take a breather before the caravan moves onto Nagpur. Hyderabad played host for this first stop with the home side, the Telugu Titans featuring on every single match day.
We also had a chance to look at all four of the new teams that are making their debuts this season. As we recap the Hyderabad leg, we look at the five best matches from the action so far.
#5 Telugu Titans vs Patna Pirates, Match 11 - Pirates won 43-36
Could Rahul Chaudhari level the scores against Pardeep Narwal and the Pirates?
On the last day of the Hyderabad leg, all eyes were once again on the men in yellow. Since suffering their first defeat of the season, the Titans had gotten badgered by each and every team - suffering four straight losses in the process. They were looking to finish their home leg on a high and avoid a fifth consecutive loss.
Standing across them were the Patna Pirates once again.
Pardeep Narwal had won the battle of the star raiders in the first meeting between these two sides, outshining the Titans' Rahul Chaudhari. Yet, he didn't have to get out of second gear at all in that match. In Thursday's encounter, however, the Titans came prepared with clear plans for Pardeep and the Patna captain responded by raising his game.
The Titans got Pardeep out early a couple of times to which the MVP of season four responded with some high-quality raids. He scored with toe touches, with a jump over defenders, with a quick change of direction and even by pure brute force in one instance where he brushed aside the challenge of Vishal Bharadwaj.
He scored in so many ways that exhausted the Titans defence and with Monu Goyat ably supporting him, the Pirates put down a beating on the home side, holding a 17-point lead at one stage with 14 minutes to go in the match.
Yes, the Titans made a late comeback with Rahul getting a Super 10 with a flurry of points at the end. However, the match was long gone by then with Round Two of the battle between Rahul Chaudhari and Pardeep Narwal once again going in the latter's favour. Pardeep finished with 12 points while Monu Goyat had 10 in a match that saw a total of 79 points being scored overall.
#4 Gujarat Fortunegiants vs Haryana Steelers, Match 9 - Match drawn 27-27
The first tie of the season. What an ending! What a match!
The Fortunegiants seemed to be heading for their second straight victory in this their very first season. They led 22-13 with just over 11 minutes left in the match, but then came the Steelers. Surjeet and Vikas Khandola started it, chipping away with two points at first. Steelers captain Nada then did his bit effecting a superb body block on Gujarat's next raid before Khandola then brought the crowd to its feet with a fantastic Super Raid.
Steelers then got the Fortunegiants All Out to square things up at 23-23 with a little over six minutes to go. From that point on, the two teams traded blows to finish the game all square in what will surely go down as one of the best matches of the season.
#3 Telugu Titans vs UP Yoddhas, Match 8 - Yoddhas won 31-18
This was a crushing win for the Yoddhas. So why is it on this list you may ask? Well, purely for the excellence in kabaddi that the Yoddhas displayed, both tactically as well as in execution on the mat.
Led by Nitin Tomar who went for 90 plus lakhs in the auction, the Yoddhas had assembled a squad rich in talent. Having talent is one thing though, using it wisely is another altogether. The Yoddhas, however, didn't falter.
Their starting unit of Tomar, Rishank Devadiga, Jeeva Kumar, Rajesh Narwal and Mahesh Goud wreaked havoc on the Titans. Their strategy on raids was exemplary with Rishank and Nitin taking most of them while Mahesh Goud, and later Surender Singh, was used for the Do or Die Raids so as to protect the above duo and not lose them in such situations. It helped Nitin and Rishank play so much more freely as they chipped in with six and five points respectively.
The Titans and Rahul Chaudhari were looking to bounce back, but they were simply outperformed by this very talented Yoddhas side and had no chance.
#2 Haryana Steelers vs U Mumba, Match 5 - U Mumba won 29-28
Oh, Steelers!
Trailing by a point after a superb comeback from U Mumba, the Haryana Steelers were still right there in the contest. Inexplicably though, with just enough time left for one more raid, the raid clock having more time left than the game clock, the Steelers allowed Mumba captain Anup Kumar to cross the baulk line to legitimize the raid and take an empty raid instead of pushing up and confronting him. Especially when you consider that the Steelers have a top defender like Surender Nada as their captain.
The Steelers actually looked good in this one, even taking a four-point lead at one stage after inflicting an All Out on U Mumba. However, a Kashiling Adake raid swung the game back in favour of Mumba after Haryana captain Nada committed a bad mistake on an earlier raid and was forced off.
Mumba looked like they were heading for back-to-back losses at one stage, but a late rally and some lack of thought from the debutants saw them escape with a win.
#1 Telugu Titans vs Patna Pirates, Match 4 - Pirates won 35-29
This contest was the first of the blockbuster matches of this fifth season of Pro Kabaddi with two of its biggest stars in Rahul Chaudhari and Pardeep Narwal facing off.
There existed a tantalizing backdrop for this contest in that the Pirates are the two-time defending champions and that Pardeep had always scored heavily against the Titans in past seasons. But how would he do this time with a new-looking team?
For the Titans, they had started their campaign with a win on Day One, but could they back it up with another strong showing against the champions? Also, there was the prospect of Rahul racking up his 500th point of Pro Kabaddi, a mammoth milestone.
The contest delivered on its promise for much of its length. For about 70% of the match, the Pirates and Titans traded blows with neither team able to eke out a sizable advantage. Neither team led by more than four points at any stage. That was until Pardeep produced a moment of magic with five minutes left that turned a one-point Pirates lead into a five point one and swinging the contest Patna's way.
Pardeep finished with 15 raid points on the night, far outshining Rahul who faded after a bright start, finishing with seven raid points in comparison and stuck on 499. In his quest for that personal milestone, Rahul ended up making some costly errors that derailed his team in the end.
