Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 18 of PKL 5

On the final night of action in Ahmedabad, the home team, the Gujarat Fortunegiants were looking to keep their perfect home record intact and make it six straight home wins. They were up against the Bengal Warriors on the night and they needed a strong comeback in the second half to prevent their first home loss. In the end, the match ended in a thrilling 26-26 tie.

Earlier, the first match of the night went right down to the wire, with Dabang Delhi engineering a come-from-behind win over the Tamil Thalaivas to sneak over the line by one point to win 30-29.

#1 The World Cup winning hero comes alive

Ajay Thakur was one of the stars for the Indian team in their successful World Cup campaign last year. Season 5 of Pro Kabaddi though has been a different cup of tea altogether for the experienced campaigner as despite being the captain of the new Tamil Thalaivas team and one of their leading raiders, he has had a quiet competition so far.

So much so that he has been benched midway through the last three games by his coach, with him being overlooked in favour of other new faces. After yesterday's game against the Haryana Steelers, Thalaivas coach K. Baskaran delivered a scathing review of Ajay's performances this season.

If coach Baskaran's intention was to light a fire under his captain though, it worked wonders as Ajay Thakur delivered a fantastic performance at the Transstadia Arena, the same place where he had played such a starring role during the World Cup last year. In a performance filled with composure, Ajay looked confident and just kept racking up the points on the night, taking advantage of some sloppy defending as well from the Dabangs. It was a superb comeback from Ajay on a night when his side needed him with Prapanjan, their lead raider so far, struggling. He had a Super 10, finishing with 13 raid points on the night.

Despite an error towards the end, we can forgive Ajay for that as his performance deserved a victory.

#2 Delhi keep hiding their best players on the bench

Abolfazl Magshodlou of Iran was one of the stars for Dabang after coming off the bench

The biggest talking point about the Dabang Delhi team this season has been their team selection. More often than not, it has been puzzling to say the least for they keep stocking their best options on the bench.

In their earlier games, they failed to use young raider Sriram effectively after he had been impressive. With their captain Meraj Sheykh not having a good season so far and no other strong raider there to support him, Sriram's absence was puzzling. Even more was the absence of Iranian Abolfazl Maghsodlou. The tall Iranian raider had been very good for the defending champions Patna Pirates last season, especially on the Do or Die raids where he uses his length to great effect.

Today once again, he started on the bench, but once the Dabangs brought him on, he changed the game for them. His height and reach caused the Thalaivas' defence all sorts of problems and he was brilliant in picking up the bonus points along with a few touch points along the way. He even affected a fantastic Super Tackle. He finished with 11 points (9 raid and 2 tackle points) despite coming on only in the second half and playing 17 minutes.

One wonders if Delhi's team selection is going to cost them a place in the Playoffs.

#3 Bhupi to the rescue for the Warriors

Bhupender Singh was the unexpected hero towards the end for the Bengal Warriors

The Warriors took the game to the home side Gujarat Fortunegiants and almost inflicted their first home loss. After a strong first half which they dominated, the Warriors led 14-10 as the Fortunegiants' raiders were kept quiet and Jang Kun Lee and Deepak Narwal raiding efficiently for them.

The comeback from the home side came in the second and it looked like we were going to have a repeat of the match against the Bengaluru Bulls, where the Fortunegiants had a similar match, trailing at half-time, but coming back to win a nail-biter. All signs pointed in that direction yet again as the Fortunegiants whittled down the lead to just two points and eventually managed to tie things up at 19-19 with seven minutes left after Mahendra Rajput's successful raid.

Soon, the Warriors had just one man left on the court and facing an all out, Bhupender Singh was substituted in to go in for the raid. The home crowd was expecting an All Out, but Bhupi played it smart and took advantage of an uncharacteristic error from Gujarat's star defender Fazel Atrachali, took another touch, that of Sachin their key raider as well as the bonus to pick up a fantastic 3-point raid for his side and revive key men for his side.

That gave the Warriors a 23-21 lead and helped them stay alive.

#4 Ecstasy and agony for Mahendra Rajput

Mahendra Rajput's costly error on the buzzer raid meant the match ended in a tie

Mahendra Rajput has come on impressively the last few games after not getting much game time early in this season. He's been coming off the bench and his impact on Do or Die raids has been sizable.

Towards the end of the match, Rajput enjoyed two moments of contrasting fortunes.

On a Do or Die raid with the Warriors having just three men on the court and four minutes left and the Fortunegiants trailing by two points, Rajput wiped out the entire Warriors team with a Super Raid. He netted his side five points, three for the touches and two for the All Out. With that stellar raid, Gujarat took a 26-23 raid.

Deepak Narwal though responded for the Warriors with a two-point raid of his own and then came Mahendra Rajput's costly error. It was the buzzer raid of the match and with his side leading by one, all that needed to be done was give Deepak Narwal an empty raid and they would have won the match.

Instead, Rajput, probably running on adrenaline, went in for a needless tackle that gifted Deepak Narwal and the Warriors a point that helped them snatch the tie.

#5 Thalaivas keep gifting matches away with mistakes yet again

The Thalaivas once again gave up a lead towards the end as their mistakes proved costly

The Thalaivas are a team filled with a lot of young players and coach Baskaran has said that he believes the team will get better over the season. However, they can't keep shooting themselves in the foot by giving away leads with silly errors.

Yesterday, they led going into the last five minutes against the Haryana Steelers, but made a key error on a raid late in the game that swung the game around and today they did it again. With Ajay Thakur firing, the Thalaivas had managed to overturn and early deficit and lead once again going into the final stretch of the game. And somehow, they conspired to lose the game from there with the Dabangs not really looking like they had a comeback in them. But come back they did, thanks to a litany of mistakes from the Thalaivas.

The signs were there early too. Early in the second leading 19-16, after they had reduced the Dabangs down to one man, they failed to effect an All Out twice. On both occasions, Iran's Abolfazl Maghsodlou came into raid and instead of just giving him a bonus and forcing a surrender raid on their own raid on the next turn, the Thalaivas defenders went in for unnecessary tackles allowing Abolfazl to escape twice. Not just that, they gifted him two points on each occasion, as he got the Bonus plus the touch point. They eventually did get him on their third attempt, but those points were crucial in the final outcome as it allowed Delhi to chip away and get close as they managed to tie at 21-21 before giving the All Out to the Thalaivas.

Despite those errors, the Thalaivas still led 27-23 with just five minutes left in the contest. With some smart game management, the Thalaivas would have ensured victory. It was not to be though as they imploded in spectacular fashion in the final three minutes. Prapanjan, having a horrible night, got captured looking for an unnecessary point with a stacked Delhi defence. With another defensive error, they found themselves reduced to four men and with two minutes left, their lead was down to just two.

Coach Baskaran, sensing his team was faltering, took a timeout to pass on some key information. It was to no avail though, as on the next raid Meraj Sheykh affected took a 3-point raid and reduce the Thalaivas to just one man after their defence needlessly tried to bring him down. Had they just conceded the one point, they would have still had the advantage going into the final minute. Instead the Dabangs now had a 2-point lead, up 30-28.

Even Ajay Thakur, who had such a spectacular night, made one key error to round things off. As the last man, Ajay got a touch point, but thinking he had got the bonus, went back past the midline, instead of trying for more points that could have given his team a tie, maybe even a win. Instead, he left time on the clock for Meraj to come in, take an empty raid and ensure a one-point win for the Dabangs. Can you believe that the Thalaivas did not suffer a single All Out and still lost?

The Thalaivas truly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.