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The Pune leg ended with the home team Puneri Paltan winning 3 out of their 6 home matches, their loss against Gujarat Fortunegiants ended their chances of finishing top of Zone A.
The Pune leg features an upcoming corner, 2 debutant covers making their name in PKL 5, the best cover defender of PKL 5, a raider performing miracles, a raider leading by example and a record breaking raider.
Right Corner: Surjeet Singh
Bengal Warriors captain is predominantly a cover defender but his dominant defensive performance means he cannot be ignored. He scored High 5s in both the matches he played in the Pune leg. Surjeet’s vice-like blocks and thigh holds proved impossible for the raiders to escape. Surjeet has now scored 9 High 5s joint highest with Surender Nada
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Right in: Ajay Thakur
Ajay Thakur continued his dream form scoring Super 10s in both the encounters against the Tamil Thalaivas in the Pune leg. He ended the campaign scoring 6 consecutive Super 10s. Ajay’s heroics helped the Thalaivas end their campaign with a win against defending champions Patna Pirates. Ajay’s brilliance meant he became only the 2nd raider to cross 200 raid points in PKL 5.
Right cover: Sunil Kumar
Sunil Kumar was until now in the shadows of fellow defenders Abozar Mighani, Fazel Atrachali and Parwesh Bhainswal, but he came into his own in the Pune leg, scoring 14 tackle points with the help of 2 High 5s. Both of his High 5s came against home team Puneri Paltan which helped Gujarat clinch the top spot. His fine performance means he became the 3rd Gujarat defender to complete a half-century of tackle points in PKL 5.
Centre: Rohit Kumar
Rohit Kumar makes his way into the team after producing a record performance scoring 30 raid points against U.P Yoddha in a match which is a record for the most raid points in a single PKL game.
Rohit scored 51 raid points in 3 matches in the Pune leg, ending the season on a high. The “Khiladi Kumar” proved his class scoring his 12th Super 10 of PKL 5, only Pardeep Narwal has scored more. He also crossed 200 raid points, becoming only the 3rd raider to reach the landmark.
Left cover: Mahender Singh
Mahender Singh produced a superb performance scoring 10 tackle points against U.P Yoddha, his 10 tackle points are the joint highest in a single PKL 5 match. The left cover impressed with his well-timed dashes and strong thigh holds. Despite the Bulls failing to make the play-offs, Mahender Singh emerged as one of the brightest debutants of PKL 5.
Left in: Deepak Hooda
Deepak Hooda scored 47 raid points in his home leg, including 3 Super 10s. With Pune’s other raiders failing to give him adequate support the captain manfully led Pune’s raiding.
Deepak’s pace, strength and agility helped him to make decisive interventions for Pune. Deepak has now scored 154 raid points overall, and if Pune are to make their first PKL final, their captain must come good.
Left Corner: Rinku Narwal
The 2nd Pune player to make the team Rinku Narwal was given an opportunity as their top defender Girish Ernak being given a rest. But Rinku surprised everyone with his performances in the left corner position.
He was Pune’s top defender in their home leg. He produced a superb High 5 in the final match against Gujarat, showcasing his potential. His emergence allows Girish Ernak to be deployed at left cover which solves Pune’s issues in that position.
