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The Lucknow leg of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 ended with the home team UP Yoddha finally ending their five-match winless run with a victory over the Telugu Titans. The period also witnessed some thrilling matches, which went right down to the last raid. The pick of the matches has to be the inter-zonal clash between the Patna Pirates and the Puneri Paltan, which the highest scoring match in the league so far.
Prior to Lucknow, the Ahmedabad leg witnessed the emergence of new PKL stars and in the 'City of Nawabs', the trend continued with many youngsters putting in match-winning performances. The best starting lineup from the Lucknow leg features an Iranian left corner, a left cover making his PKL debut, a young right corner, and a right cover. It also features three superstar raiders!
Nitesh Kumar [Right-corner]
The young right corner defender played a big role in helping the UP Yoddha end their match winless run by producing a superb performance against the Telugu Titans. He scored a superb High 5 and was comfortably UP’s best defender of the match.
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This was his second High 5 in PKL 5, both of which came against the Titans. His successful tackle on Rahul Chaudhari in the last minute of the match helped his side take the lead in the final minute. The right corner has superb thigh holds and blocks in his armory and has the potential to be a match-winning defender in the Yoddha's upcoming matches.
Nitin Tomar [Right-in]
It was a tough pick between Nitin Tomar and Rishank Devadiga, but the UP Yoddha captain gets the nod because he led from the front in pressure situations. Throughout the home leg, Tomar was consistent - scoring 32 raid points in the six games and in total, he has now scored 65 raid points in 11 matches.
He was excellent in his side's win over the Titans, where with UP one point down and on a do-or-die raid, Tomar came back with a successful raid to level the scores. He also scored two crucial points the Yoddha's last raid of the match to make sure of the win.
Surinder Singh [Right-cover]
The U Mumba defence comprised of experienced PKL defenders like D.Suresh Kumar, Joginder Narwal, Hadi Oshtorak and Kuldeep Singh, but it is the young Surinder Singh who has caught the eye. While the side struggled defensively in both the matches at the Lucknow’s Babu Banarsi Stadium, Surinder was the only U Mumba defender who excelled.
He scored a High 5 against the UP Yoddha, thus becoming the first U Mumba player to score a High 5 in PKL 5. He was also the only U Mumba defender to score more than two tackle points against the Telugu Titans.
Deepak Narwal [Center]
While all eyes were on Jang Kun Lee and Maninder Singh, Deepak Narwal stole the show with a superb Super 10 which helped the Bengal Warriors end their three-match winless run.
At 25-26 against the UP Yoddha in the dying moments of the game, Narwal made a two-point raid to make extend Bengal’s lead to three points. With Bengal’s main raiders Maninder Singh (2 raid points) and Jang Kun Lee (4 raid points) struggling, it was Deepak Narwal who changed the game for the Warriors.
An intelligent and versatile raider, Deepak Narwal’s recent form is good news for the Warriors as it reduces the pressure on their two main men.
Ziaur Rehman [Left-cover]
Many PKL defenders get terrified on just hearing the name of Pardeep Narwal, but Bangladeshi defender Ziaur Rehman making his PKL debut showed what he is made of by dominating the Patna star.
He sent the “Dubki king” out of court on four occasions and ended up scoring 6 tackle points, also becoming the first Pune player to score a High 5 in PKL 5. His efforts played a big part in Pune defeating Patna for the first time in PKL.
Pardeep Narwal [Left-in]
The “Dubki King” proved his class against Puneri Paltan where after suffering a below par first half, he roared back in the second, scoring 14 raid points. He ended up with 19 raid points, which is the most by any player in PKL 5.
Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t prevent the Patna Pirates from suffering their first defeat of PKL 5. Pardeep has now scored 70 raid points in just 5 matches at an incredible 14 raid point per match.
Fazel Atrachali [Left-corner]
The best defender of PKL 4 had endured a slow start in PKL 5 as compared to his lofty standards but in Lucknow, he reminded everyone of his class, scoring 9 tackle points against Puneri Paltan and leading the Gujarat Fortunegiants to their sixth win in seven matches.
His 9 tackle points were the most tackle points scored by a player in a single match of PKL 5. The Iranian left corner showed why he is rated as one of the best defenders of PKL with some incredible tackles which gave the Pune raiders no chance to escape.
