The Ahmedabad leg of VIVO Pro Kabaddi 2019 is in the history books as the hosts Gujarat Fortune Giants could not register a single win while playing at the EKA Arena in front of their home fans.
Prior to the season, the Fortune Giants had lost only one match at home, however, in this edition they lost to the Tamil Thalaivas, Telugu Titans, Bengal Warriors and Jaipur Pink Panthers in their four home matches.
Deepak Niwas Hooda's Jaipur Pink Panthers won both of their matches in Ahmedabad and Haryana Steelers too managed to win two games. Surprisingly, the defending champions, Bengaluru Bulls lost their matches to Haryana and U.P. Yoddha during the Ahmedabad leg while Bengal Warriors and Telugu Titans picked up 8 points each.
The Ahmedabad leg of the seventh edition was a pretty eventful one but, some star players failed to come to the party. Here are the five star players who failed to impress from the Ahmedabad leg.
#5 Joginder Narwal - Dabang Delhi K.C.
Total Tackles - 5, Successful Tackle - 1, Unsuccessful Tackles - 4, Tackle Points - 1
Dabang Delhi's captain Joginder Narwal played only one match in the Ahmedabad leg where Delhi secured a win over Puneri Paltan. However, Joginder did not contribute much to the team's cause as he committed 4 unsuccessful tackles in the game.
The veteran defender managed to pick only 1 tackle point in the entire match which put some additional pressure on the shoulders of Naveen Kumar and Chandran Ranjit. Ultimately, both the raiders saved the day for Dabang Delhi K.C. as they picked 19 points between themselves to defeat Puneri Paltan by two points.
#4 Rahul Chaudhari - Tamil Thalaivas
Total Raids - 13, Touch Points - 1, Bonus Points - 2, Unsuccessful Raids - 5
Rahul Chaudhari featured in only a solitary match of the Ahmedabad leg where he played against the hosts, Gujarat Fortune Giants. A player who is known for registering Super 10s every now and then, Chaudhari struggled to be at his best in Ahmedabad.
In his 13 raid attempts, Chaudhari was tackled five times by the Gujarat defence as he could score only 3 raid points in the match. Though Rahul could not shine for the Thalaivas, the team's captain Ajay Thakur scored 9 points and helped his side win the match.
#3 Ashish Kumar Sangwan - Bengaluru Bulls
Total Raids - 2, Unsuccessful Raids - 2, Total Tackles - 1, Unsuccessful Tackles - 1, Points - 0
Talented all-rounder Ashish Kumar Sangwan got a place in Bengaluru Bulls' starting seven for their fixture versus Haryana Steelers. While the team's coach Randhir Singh would have backed Ashish to contribute actively in both the departments, the all-rounder failed to open his account in the match.
His solitary tackle attempt failed while the Haryana defence tackled him both the times he went in to raid. In the end, the difference between Haryana and Bengaluru was 3 points.
Ashish's poor form left Randhir Singh with no other option but to bench the all-rounder for the match against U.P. Yoddha.
#2 Baldev Singh - Bengal Warriors
Total Tackles - 7, Successful Tackles - 3, Unsuccessful Tackles - 4, Tackle Points - 3
For a defender who had been scoring 4-5 points consistently in the defensive unit, to finish the Ahmedabad leg with just 3 tackle points in two matches would have Baldev Singh's confidence levels.
While the Warriors won the game versus Gujarat despite Baldev Singh scoring only 1 point in the defence, they could not do so against Telugu Titans. Baldev scored 2 tackle points versus the Titans besides finishing with two unsuccessful tackles.
#1 Sachin Tanwar - Gujarat Fortune Giants
Total Raids - 52, Unsuccessful Raids - 14, Raid Points - 18
The lead raider of the home side, Sachin Tanwar has not been in his prime form this season but the Gujarat Fortune Giants fans hoped that he would return to form during the home leg. However, while the likes of Rohit Gulia and Sonu Jaglan delivered the goods in the raiding department, Sachin struggled to score points consistently.
He could manage only 18 raid points from four matches and he was once substituted for his poor performances as well. His 14 unsuccessful raids just added to Gujarat's woes as the home team's star player emerged as the biggest disappointment of the Ahmedabad leg.