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The Jaipur Pink Panthers brought an exciting end to their home leg in the town of Panchkula, Haryana with a thrilling tied contest against the Dabang Delhi KC side on the final day of matches at the Tau Devilal Sports Complex.
The draw meant that Jaipur finished their home leg in Panchkula with two wins, two losses and two drawn matches, and lifted themselves off the bottom of the Zone A standings.
After starting their home leg with a convincing win over the Puneri Paltan, they faced a do-or-die situation having to win against U Mumba to stay in the race for playoffs. However, a Siddharth Desai second half masterclass saw the U Mumba side mount a comeback and draw the match at 35-35 to put the home side Jaipur out of the running for the playoffs.
Jaipur took on the Gujarat Fortunegiants in their next match and tested the Zone A frontrunners before succumbing to a 34-29 defeat. Jaipur bounced back quickly to register a win over the Haryana Steelers with a 39-30 win banking on Deepak Niwas Hooda and Sunil Siddhgavali's promising showing. The Pink Panthers faced off against Gujarat Fortunegiants again for the second time in Panchkula. They did well to give a tough fight to the table toppers but ended up on the losing side yet again in a narrow 31-33 loss.
The final match saw the Jaipur Pink Panthers take on the Dabang Delhi KC side in an encounter where the visitors fielded a young side testing their bench strength. A thrilling game saw the sides share spoils on the night as the Panchkula leg came to a close.
The Panchkula leg saw a lot of defenders bring put on strong performances on the mat. We take a look at five defenders who shone in this leg.
#5 Sunil Siddhgavali - Jaipur Pink Panthers
The cover defender Sunil Siddhgavali was a stable presence in the Jaipur Pink Panthers' defensive setup with his timely dashes and blocks on opposition raiders.
He started the home leg on a stellar note scoring eight points against the Puneri Paltan as the Panthers kick-started their Panchkula run on a bright note. He continued his form over the next couple of games getting another 'High 5' against the Haryana Steelers.
He had a comparatively silent later half of the home leg, not managing to get going with the tackle points, but provided strong support in the defensive lineup.
#4 Mahender Singh - Bengaluru Bulls
Bengaluru Bulls' young defender Mahender Singh was the top scoring defender for them in the Panchkula leg of the competition. He continued to be a strong force in the backline with his ability to execute effective blocks from the cover position and get tackle points on the board.
Mahender formed a strong cover combination with his fellow teammate Ashish Kumar Sangwan and the two ensured the Bulls provide strong coverage to their raiding unit in the backline. He picked up a couple of points in their comfortable win over the Telugu Titans and was a handy contributor with his assists to the corner defenders Amit Sheoran and Raju Lal Choudhary.
In the Bulls' second game against the Patna Pirates, the young Mahender was the key man in the defence as he kept the 'Dubki King', Pardeep Narwal in check by putting in strong blocks and dashes.
#3 Parvesh Bhainswal - Gujarat Fortunegiants
The major factor for the success of the Gujarat Fortunegiants this season has been their cover defensive combination of skipper Sunil Kumar and Parvesh Bhainswal.
Parvesh Bhainswal in fine form over the twin matches with the home side Jaipur Pink Panthers in the Panchkula leg. He continued to rise in the rankings on the overall tackle points tally and has scaled the peak going past U Mumba skipper Fazel Atrachali. Bhainswal has scored 79 tackle points in 21 matches, overtaking Fazel Atrachali's 77 points from the same number of matches.
Bhainswal scored four points in Gujarat's first win over the Jaipur Pink Panthers as he provided able support to the right corner Ruturaj Koravi, who was the top scorer in the match. He repeated his performance of four tackle points in the second fixture against his former side staying just shy of a 'High 5' yet again in Panchkula.
#2 Amit Hooda - Tamil Thalaivas
The Tamil Thalaivas did not manage to get a win in their two fixtures in the Panchkula leg of the competition. However, their young right corner defender Amit Hooda provided something to cheer about with his strong defensive showings in both the encounters.
Hooda was in devastating form against the Bengal Warrios in the Thalaivas' first encounter in Panchkula as he picked up a staggering seven tackle points with his ankle holds and blocks from the right corner. He finished the match as the top scorer on the mat when he added a bonus point during one of his raids as well.
In their second match against the UP Yoddha side, Amit Hooda picked up five tackle points putting on yet another 'High 5' performance in Panchkula as the Thalaivas drew against the UP Yoddha.
#1 Sandeep Kumar Dhull - Jaipur Pink Panthers
Jaipur Pink Panthers' left corner position was occupied by young Sandeep Kumar Dhull and he made the position his own during the six matches played by the home side in Panchkula.
In the first two matches against the Puneri Paltan and U Mumba, Dhull played a supportive role to the cover defenders and picked up a couple of tackle points in both the games. He bettered his performances in the following two matches when he picked up three and four tackle points against the Gujarat Fortunegiants and Haryana Steelers respectively. He was effective with his ankle holds on the left corner, and also executed short blocks blindsiding the raiders.
His best performances in the home leg came about in the final two matches when he scored six tackle points against the Gujarat Fortunegiants and Dabang Delhi KC. He was on song with his tackle attempts and rarely made any mistakes.
After his impressive home leg performances, he moved into the top five scoring defenders in the league with 63 tackle points from 21 matches.
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