Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 23 of PKL 5

#4 The Yoddha and Thalaivas are proving to be the biggest bottlers in Season 5

Will these two teams ever win a close match?

When these two teams met the first time, they played out a draw. What were the chances that they would play out another tie? Pretty good actually considering that these two teams had the worst record in close matches going into the final minutes. And true to form, both these teams shot themselves in the foot multiple times during this contest, especially in the crunch, that meant we got yet another tie.

Where do we start?

The Yoddha led 12-3 with just 9 minutes gone in the match and 18-9 at half-time. The Thalaivas came back strong after the All Out with Ajay Thakur continuing the good form he showed in the last game. The Thalaivas took the lead in the second with just 6 minutes gone in the second and at one point had the home side reduced to one man, that too a defender in Sagar Krishna. Yet, just as they did in their last game against Dabang Delhi, they failed to effect the All Out with a silly error that gave UP the edge as Ajay Thakur ended up getting Super Tackled on the next raid.

With a one-point lead in the final minute of the match and facing a Do or Die raid, the game boiled down to Rishank. The star man kept his nerve and got a touch point to extend his side's advantage to two and it looked like the Yoddha were going to finally get that first home win.

But no, the Yoddha switched off, allowed Vineet to come in quickly and get a touch point and with 4 seconds still remaining, forced another raid from UP. The Thalaivas held a high line and did not give Rishank the chance to cross the baulk line, Amit Hooda effected a superb ankle hold and effected the tackle to give his side the tie.

Rishank and Ajay Thakur had Super 10s while Amit Hooda picked up another High 5 on defence with 6 tackle points.

What a finish! There was shock, elation, agony, despair, missing nails, brain freezes, moments of bravery, everything.

These two teams are so poor at late game situations that you are almost guaranteed drama if they are involved in close games going into the final minutes.