Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 41 of PKL 5

Exciting kabaddi action continued in Season 5 of Pro Kabaddi League on Day 41 as four teams chanced their luck. In the first encounter, the Tamil Thalaivas went up against Nitin Tomar's UP Yoddha, while home team Haryana Steelers fought the Puneri Paltan in the second contest of the night.

One day after the Bengal Warriors provided one of the best comebacks of the season, the Tamil Thalaivas bettered it when they came back from a scoreline of 9-1 to eke out a two-point win against the UP Yoddha. THe Haryana Steelers disappointed their fans by putting in an effort not worthy of a team aiming to go top the table as they were easily brushed aside by Deepak Niwas Hooda's Puneri Paltan.

Here are the five talking points from the day!

#1 Thalaivas pull things back and how!

Prapanjan was impressive on the night and helped his team come back into the match

When the score read 9-1 in just the fourth minute of the game, another rout looked in the offing for a team that has tasted a lot of defeats in Season 5. However, despite being a team that has regularly lost in PKL, Thalaivas have often shown a lot of heart in their matches and have made good comebacks in the second half. On Wednesday, they were at it again and despite one of the worst starts to the matches, they quietly crept back into the contest.

Young Prapanjan led the way with a super raid first and then the defence also got its act together. Although by half time, the deficit was still of six points, the UP Yoddha had been left on the verge of an All-Out which was duly completed within the first few minutes of second half.

And finally, in the 37th minute of the game, the Thalaivas did what no one would have even predicted in the first five minutes when they went into the lead after their horrendous start. The win, in the end, only proved to be the cherry on the top.

#2 Thakur makes the second half his own

Thakur's (second from right) confidence reached peak high towards the end of the match

Ajay Thakur, for most part of the tournament, has been Thalaivas’ outstanding raider and has done his bit on most occasions to take the team close to victory, which, somehow has always eluded them. The captain, however, didn’t have the best of first halves on Wednesday. After seeing his side go 9-1 in no time, his raiding didn’t produce the points he would have liked them to.

But Thakur did help his team mount a comeback in the second half when he provided the moment of the day. Rishank Devadiga came in search of a point in the 26th minute but was brought down by the men in yellow and blue. However, his dangling hand could have still caused trouble and got him a super raid, in fact. That’s when Ajay Thakur jumped in and yanked the raider's whole body by his hand. Even last night, Wazir Singh’s dangling hand had managed to get him 5 points and, in that context, Thakur’s intervention proved really important.five

In the dying moments of the match, Thakur himself benefited when he somehow managed to push his hand across the mid line with all the Yoddha defenders on him for a tackle. That raid by Thakur proved to be the clincher in the end.

#3 Not this time!

The celebrations told how desperately the Thalaivas wanted that victory

After they had come back into the match, the Thalaivas seemed determined to hold on to the lead for once. With less than 30 seconds left and his team with a lead of a point, Ajay Thakur had to just cross the baulk line and come back. However, he got his team a point too as well to extend the lead to two. But while celebrating his raid, when he could have killed time by not crossing the mid-line and end the game then and there, he came back, making another raid possible in the game.

Rishank Devadiga could have still made a match of it if he had got two points to draw the game with the last raid of the game but the Thalaivas gave him no chance. For the last raid of the game, the Thalaivas pushed one defender ahead who invited Devadiga to get a point off him while the rest formed a chain deep into the court. It proved to be one tactical masterstroke as well as a statement of intent for the move ensured that the raider couldn’t go back with more than one point.

And this way, one of the best matches of Pro Kabaddi League came to an end with Rishank Devadiga quietly walking back to hand Thalaivas the victory they thoroughly deserved.

#4 After the high, comes the low for Wazir

Wazir Singh had a night to forget against Puneri Paltan

Kabaddi is a great leveler. One day you’re a hero, the other day you can end up looking the most ordinary man on the court. Wazir Singh had that sort of luck on Wednesday after having a dream night against Dabang Delhi on Tuesday. First, he got into a tangle with the referee over a bonus point he claimed he had got but the one that referee didn’t give. Instead of asking for a review, Singh got into an argument with the referee and it didn’t take long for the official to reach to his pocket.

Next, he found himself as the villain when the referee revealed after Rajesh Mondal’s failed raid bid that Singh had already committed a Self-Out before the tackle attempt. The result was Wazir Singh going off the court and his team conceding one point to the opposition despite making a brilliant tackle attempt.

The star of Haryana’s previous match was once again in action when he came to take a do-or-die raid for the team. But once again he was swallowed by a strong Girish Ernak-led defence.

#5 Steelers super tackle their way into the match

4 super tackles was a brilliant effort in itself but it didn't help the cause much

Just like the Tamil Thalaivas in the first match, the Haryana Steelers looked down and out in the first ten minutes of the first half itself. While they didn’t come back the way Thalaivas did - through Prapanjan’s brilliant raiding, they came back in a way that one would always expect Haryana to – through their defence.

Reduced to three men four times across the half time, they succeeded in getting super tackles on all the four occasions. Eight points through four super tackles was a good way to put the opposition under pressure and make a strong come back into the competition.

But Wazir Singh’s off day hurt the Steelers as Deepak Kumar Dahiya could do only so much with his solo raiding brilliance on the night and all those super tackle efforts eventually went in vain.