Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: 5 talking points from Day 5 of PKL 5

Newbies Gujarat Fortunegiants and Haryana Steelers faced off in the first match of the double header. While Haryana wanted to put their heart breaking defeat against U Mumba the other day behind, the Fortunegiants were looking to secure their second victory and instill fears in the heart of their opponents who are yet to face them in the tournament. The teams played with the same intensity and in the end produced a match that neither of them deserved to lose. Bengal Warriors, on the other hand, shrugged off last season's lowly finish to pile on Telugu Titans' misery by handing them their fourth consecutive defeat. Here are the five talking points from the fifth day of Season 5

#1 Miserly Fortunegiants don’t concede an inch

Fazel Atrachali brought up his 100th tackle point in the Pro Kabaddi League in the game

‘Don’t give anything away is’ what coaches often tell their teams before they take the field or the mat but that’s hardly possible in competitive sport. But the way Gujarat Fortunegiants began the game against Haryana, it seemed they were on their way to do the impossible. While they didn’t set the stage on fire themselves with a lot of raid points against their name on the scorecard, the defense, with Iranian Fazel Atrachali in the leading role, hardly allowed the Steelers to make any inroads with their raiding.

The Gujarat team kept on chipping away points but Haryana struggled to open their account despite raid after raid. It wasn’t before the fifth minute that the Steelers could steal a point courtesy Prasanth Kumar Rai. The Fortunegiants had scored four by then and one could see the Steelers under the pump over their inability to secure points.

#2 Skipper Nada’s mixed day at the office

Nada brought up a high 5 as early as in the 23rd minute but got a green card in the 33rd

The fact that Haryana Steelers went into the half time just three points adrift of Fortunegiants score could be attributed to Surender Nada, the defender and Surender Nada, the captain. Nada, the defender rose to the occasion in the match and unleashed his blocks and the ankle holds on the Fortunegiants raiders to help his team make a comeback in the first half. At the same time though, Nada’s captaincy left a lot to be desired and in the end proved to be the difference between the two teams.

Seconds before the half time whistle, Nada miscalculated and failed to give his team what could have been a super tackle opportunity. Moreover, his keeping Surjeet Singh off the court for the most part of the match befuddled many. In fact, what befuddled more was him persisting with a lack luster Wazir Singh. Nada’s mistake appeared all the more glaring after Surjeet Singh turned the match on its head with 6 raid points in no time in the second half to help his team tie.

Besides, just when Steelers were within sniffing distance of Fortunegiants’ score early in the second half, he made another mistake while defending that sent him and Mohit Chillar off the court, allowing the opposition to rack up a substantial lead before Khandola’s raid brought them back into the game. If that wasn’t enough, he even ended with a Green Card in the 33rd minute.

#3 The comeback courtesy Khandola

Khandola's 34th minute super raid paved the way for a glorious comeback from Haryana Steelers

Whoever said that this game can change in the blink of an eye said it right. With ten minutes left on the clock, the Fortunegiants seemed to be riding on their luck with Nada’s mistakes giving them enough chances to consolidate their lead. The seemed miles ahead with an eight point lead when the momentum began swinging.

Mahendra Rajput, Surjeet Singh and Vikash Khandola put in successful raids to bridge the gap between the two sides. But the raid of the game came in the 34th minute with Khandola, who had been showing signs of brilliance throughout the night, winning the physical and the mental battle against three raiders to get his team three points and set them on the path to recovery which would ultimately see them stealing a thrilling tie.

#4 Maninder overshadows the bigger stars

Maninder earned 9 raid points in the first half before having a quiet second half

In a match that was featuring the best Indian raider in the form of Rahul Chaudhari and the best overseas raider Jang Kun Lee, how many would have thought that a Maninder Singh would steal the show? Definitely not those who didn’t watch him bulldoze oppositions into submission in the first season of the Pro Kabaddi League.

But Singh’s script, it seemed, was being written by someone up there who wasn’t too bothered about what the mere mortals' thoughts about him. Playing his first Pro Kabaddi League match after his bombastic Season 1, Maninder Singh snuffed the life out of Titans’ defense department with one successful raid after the other. He was unstoppable in the first ten minutes.

Every time he went in to take a raid in the first half, he got his team points to give his team a head start and out of the first 16 points scored by Bengal, nine belonged to him. He eventually finished with 11 points in the match

#5 The star turns into a sorry kid

Titans desperately need Rahul Chaudhari to deliver the goods after a nightmarish start to the season

Rahul Chaudhari didn’t have the best of last seven days. Although he started off with a Super 10 and a win for Telugu Titans, nothing much has gone right for him and his team since then as they hurtled from one defeat to another in the league. Wednesday brought him almost on his knees. Well, almost.

In one of the humbling moments of this glitzy tournament, Chaudhari was seen holding his ears like a school student in front of the referee after he had erroneously asked him for a review about a tackle he wasn’t sure of. The game, indeed, is a great leveller. Although Chaudhari’s mistake in the heat of the moment of the first half cost his team an important review, it definitely melted some fans’ hearts too.