Pro Kabaddi League Seson 5: Best Playing 7 from the Chennai Leg

The Chennai leg ended with the Tamil Thalaivas becoming the second team in PKL 5 to lose all their home matches after Dabang Delhi. Their poor form means they have now lost 13 matches, the most by any team in Zone B and are the only team in Zone B out of the contention for the play-offs.

Gujarat’s brilliant win over Patna means they have 3 defenders featuring in the starting 7. The Chennai leg features 2 of the best corners of PKL 5, best cover defender pairing of PKL 5, a raider performing miracles, and 2 superstar raiders leading by example.

Right Corner: Abozar Mighani

Right corner Abozar Mighani produced a superb display against defending champions Patna Pirates scoring a High 5 consigning Patna to their first inter zone defeat. It was Abozar’s 2nd High 5 of PKL 5. Abozar’s performance helped Gujarat tame PKL 5’s best raiding team. He became the fourth player to reach 50 tackle points in PKL 5, having scored 52 tackle points so far. The Iranian’s well-timed dives and ankle holds proved impossible for the raiders to escape.

Right in: Ajay Thakur

Ajay Thakur led from the front in Tamil Thalaivas' woeful home leg, and was arguably the only bright spot for them. Ajay scored 74 raid points in 6 matches at an average of 12.33 raid points per match and 4 Super 10s. Only Pardeep Narwal (75 raid points) has scored more in the home leg in PKL. Ajay tormented the opposition defences with his hand touches and brilliant escapes. Ajay’s efforts mean he is now only behind Pardeep Narwal in the top raiders of PKL 5 with 170 raid points.

Right cover: Sunil Kumar

The debutant right cover did well in Chennai leg, helping Gujarat win both their matches in Chennai. Sunil scored his first High 5 of PKL 5 against Dabang Delhi, helping Gujarat reach top of Zone A. The youngster impressed with his dashes and blocks and was by far the best right cover on display in the Chennai leg. Sunil’s High 5 meant that all 4 starting defenders of Gujarat have now scored a High 5 in PKL 5.

Centre: Maninder Singh

Maninder Singh continued his superb form, scoring 16 raid points against Jaipur Pink Panthers. He scored his 7th Super 10 of PKL 5. Jaipur’s defence just couldn’t handle the red hot Maninder. Maninder scored 73 per cent of Bengal’s raid points against Jaipur. He also showed intelligence with Bengal, facing a Do or Die raid, which was the last play of the match. He picked up a bonus point before getting tackled ensuring Bengal won the match by a single point.

Left cover: Parwesh Bhainswal

Gujarat Fortune Giants left cover Parwesh Bhainswal continued his good form scoring his 2nd High 5 in his last 4 matches. Parwesh was the 2nd Gujarat defender to score a High 5 against Patna Pirates, reducing the latter to just 13 raid points, which was their lowest in a PKL 5 match. The Gujarat defender's brilliant performance meant that the unstoppable Pardeep scored 5 raid points, which was his lowest in a PKL 5 match. Parwesh has now scored 34 tackle points in PKL 5 after managing just 3 in PKL 4.

Left in: Deepak Hooda

Puneri Paltan captain Deepak Hooda proved his class in the Chennai leg, scoring 21 raid points, including a superb super 10 against U.P Yoddha. Deepak also proved to be the difference against home team Tamil Thalaivas. With the scores at 16-15 Deepak produced a superb raid to inflict the all-out on Tamil Thalaivas, and helped Pune get a firm grip on the match which they didn’t relinquish till the end. Deepak also tormented the Yoddha defence, scoring 15 raid points with the help of 3 Super raids. His 3 super raids in the match were the highest in a single PKL 5 game.

Left Corner: Surender Nada

PKL 5’s best defender came up with another stellar performance scoring his 8th High 5 of PKL 5 to help Haryana move a step closer to the play-off qualification. Nada dominated U Mumba’s star raider Kashiling Adake and Anup Kumar, sending the duo off court twice each. Nada has now scored 66 tackle points and is the leading defender of PKL 5. Nada also became just the 4th defender in PKL to reach 200 tackle points.