Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Top 5 raiders from the Lucknow leg

The Pro Kabaddi caravan reached the City of Nawabs, Lucknow for the very first time last week for the home leg of the new franchise that has entered the Kabaddi fold, the UP Yoddha. The matches were held at the very famous Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium wherein the home team witnessed excellent crowd support.

The leg was an exciting one for the viewers of the sport as almost every match kept them on the edge of their seats and went down the wire with many results being decided in only the penultimate minute of the game. Precisely, 10 out of the total 11 matches held at the venue ended with a score difference of five or less than that.

As far as the home team was concerned, they had a torrid run in their own backyard, for they lost four matches on the trot all by pretty slender margins before settling for a tie against the Tamil Thalaivas and notching up the all-important win in the last match against the Telugu Titans.

There were quite a few players who made the cut to the headlines with their exceptional performances on the mat, but in this article, Sportskeeda looks at the best 5 raiders who went rampant on the kabaddi mat and left the rival defence hapless.

#5 Rohit Kumar (Bengaluru Bulls)

The Bengaluru Bulls have played nine matches so far in the tournament, and in five of them, their skipper, Rohit Kumar has notched up a Super-10 to his name.

He repeated the feat in the team's only match in Lucknow against Jaipur Pink Panthers with an 11-point outing that was replete with precise raiding when it came to timing, escape tactics, bonus points and swift touches.

Shabeer in the attack when U Mumba clashed against UP Yoddha.

#4 Shabeer Bapu (U Mumba)

The U Mumba camp will be a happy unit given that their front-line raider, Shabeer has embarked on some kind of form prior to the home leg which is all set to commence in Mumbai today.

Shabeer clinched 13 points in the match against UP Yoddha and what effectively enabled him to do so, is the fact that he is completely fit and able to use his agility and swiftness when in attack with running hand touches and dives to the midline.

In the two matches at Lucknow, Shabeer averaged 9.5 raid points per match, which is ideally what U Mumba rely on him for.

Rahul Chaudhari in action against UP Yoddha last night.

#3 Rahul Chaudhari (Telugu Titans)

He sits atop the leaderboard of the league when it comes to the raid points with 87 to his name so far in the tournament. Rahul had a particularly successful outing against U Mumba wherein he broke the defence of the opposition apart by constantly making it inroads and fetching 13 raid points in that single match.

He exhibited a plethora of skills akin to some of his previous performances but was not able to replicate the same in the next match against UP Yoddha and yet managed to collect six valuable points in that low-scoring encounter.

Pardeep picked up a record 19 raid points against the Puneri Paltan.

#2 Pardeep Narwal (Patna Pirates)

The Patna Pirates may have played just one match in the Lucknow leg wherein they went down against the Puneri Paltan, but their talismanic skipper, Pardeep Narwal showcased his supremacy even in that encounter.

Despite being relegated to the bench for more than 10 minutes of the match time, he came on time and again and managed to keep the Pune defence on their toes by sneaking in raid points whether it was with the toe touch, hand touch, dives, Dubkis, etc.

And it wasn't just a normal measure of raid points but a stunning 19 raid points that he amassed that night, thus proving yet again why he is the one of the best when it comes to the attack.

Rishank scored a total of 44 raid points in the home leg.

#1 Rishank Devadiga (UP Yoddha)

He is regarded as one of the fittest players in the Kabaddi circles and he played to his reputation in the home leg, with a stellar start in the very home match against his former team, U Mumba wherein he amassed 14 points.

A notable fact about this young gun is that he has added new elements to his style of attack especially the fact that he traverses the court and is way more agile along with the quick turns which the defence fails to comprehend at times. In totality, Rishank bagged a total of 44 raid points in the six matches and will look to carry the same form ahead of the Mumbai leg which is where he hails from, so technically it will be another home leg for the talented player.