PKL 2018 | Studs and duds of ongoing edition so far

Chiranjibi Pati
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The sixth season of Pro Kabaddi League has been as exciting, if not more, as the previous editions of the very popular tournament. Many new faces have surprised kabaddi experts with their breathtaking performances while there are some great players those have failed to deliver as per expectations.

Studs:

Siddharth Desai

U Mumba raider Siddharth Desai is clearly a revelation of the sixth season of PKL. He announced himself at the big stage with 15 raid points in his PKL debut against Puneri Paltan which ended in a tie on the very first day of the league in Chennai. The Kolhapur-born raider has a total of 97 raid points from seven matches so far in this season which makes him a deadly raider. He uses his height to maximum advantage in gathering most number of raid points. With six Super 10s and four Super Raids in PKL 6, he has a very impressive average of 13.85 raid points per match. Desai is at the second position of the Top Raiders list in the season which is led by Puneri Paltan’s Nitin Tomar.

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Pawan Sehrawat

Much like Desai, Pawan Sehrawat has impressed one and all with his performance in the season for Bengaluru Bulls. Despite the presence of skipper Rohit Kumar in the team, Pawan has made a big name for himself in the league this season. Although he has been playing in the league from the third season, this year he came in as a surprise package for Tamil Thalaivas in the first game where the Bengaluru think tank used him more than their primary raider Rohit. Pawan vindicated the decision in the first game and ended up with 20 points, despite missing a majority of the second half. So far in the season, he has collected 74 raid points from five games at an average of more than 14 points in a game. The 22-year-old player from Delhi has been a key member in the Bengaluru defence as well and has three tackle points in the sixth season standing at key positions of left corner, right corner and right cover. With quick footwork and his ablility to go for multiple-point raids, he has eight Super Raids and four Super 10s to his name this season. Sehrawat’s incredible frog jump against Patna Pirates’ defenders made headlines for the young man from the Bengaluru camp. 

Vishal Bhardwaj

With skipper Vishal Bhardwaj in the left and Iranian defender Abozar Mighani in the right corner, the Telugu Titans have one of the strongest, if not the best, corner combinations in the league. Leading the team in the sixth season, Vishal has been fantastic in the defence so far and has contributed massively to the team’s success this season. He has combined well with Abozar in making things go their way in the defence and has got 26 tackle points from six matches. The Titans captain has a success percentage of 62.85% in the defence and with strong ankle and thigh holds he has four Super Tackles and two High 5s in the sixth season of the league so far. His contribution of 26 tackle points from six matches has resulted in the Titans winning four out of six games that they have played in the season. 

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Fazel Atrachali

If someone asks about the most impactful defender in the entire league then my vote should go to Iran’s left corner Fazel Atrachali. The Mumbai skipper has a strong ankle hold which makes it difficult for any raider to come out of that while playing against the U Mumba team. As a captain, he has led from the front and has been extremely effective for the team. He started the season, against Pune, on a brilliant note despite finishing one point short of a High 5. He has a total of 29 tackle points in seven games and is at the third position on the list of the Top Defenders of PKL 6. His success rate is little below than that of Vishal Bhardwaj with 61.36% from 44 tackle attempts by him. He has been a live wire on the field and always has judged well whenever attempting a tackle against any raider. He has assisted other defenders as well in effecting tackled at crucial junctures of the game. He has two Super Tackles and the same number of High 5s as well in the season. 

Duds:

Monu Goyat

The raider from Haryana became the costliest player in the history of PKL when he was bought for a staggering price of Rs 1.51 crore by the Haryana Steelers. After missing out the first game due to injury, he had to take up the captaincy as injured Surender Nada was ruled out of the remaining part of the league. It seems like the captaincy pressure was too much for the young raider and Monu is not in his prime form for the Steelers this season. In seven games he has only 54 raid points at an average of more than seven per match. Despite him being the primary raider, teammate Vikash Khandola is above him on the Top Raiders list with a total of 68 raid points. Monu has attempted 104 total raids but his success rate is only 41.34%. His poor form during the home leg is a primary reason that the Steelers have managed to win only three out of the nine games that they have played so far.

Rohit Kumar

Being one of the most talented of all the raiders in the league, Rohit Kumar hasn’t done well in the ongoing season. Although he has underplayed himself in first few games allowing Pawan Sehrawat to go for the most number of raids for the team.  Pretty much like Monu Goyat, captaincy has probably taken a toll on the Bengaluru raider as well and he has a success rate of only 31.81% from 44 total raid attempts. Rohit has only 18 points from five game which means he averages less than four this season and has no Super 10s so far. In the previous season of the league, he had an average of around 10 raid points per match being in the same team. His performance though hasn’t affected the team’s performance because of the consistent show by Pawan and good support by Kashiling Adake.  

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Pardeep Narwal

After the defending champions, Patna Pirates, let go Monu Goyat, they had huge faith in their captain Pardeep Narwal to deliver the goods during the raids. Despite Pardeep is at the third position of the Top Raiders table with 95 raid points from nine games, his performance has been below par as the success rate. He has gone in to raid on 169 occasions and has a success rate of just 44.97% which is much below than his standards. In the previous season, where the Pirates were crowned champions, Pardeep averaged 14.19 points per match whereas in this season he still has just more than 10 but considering the fact that he goes in to raid more often than not, this year he has been quite ordinary with his show on the mat. 

Amit Hooda

The Tamil Thalaivas had roped in the right corner defender in their side from the very first edition of their PKL campaign last year. Amit had a decent season in 2017 with 61 tackle points from 22 matches that he got on the mat for the Thalaivas. Come 2018, the performance of the defender has gone down and he has disappointed the fans of the Chennai-based franchise more importantly during their home leg where they had to suffer back-to-back defeats after winning the first game against the defending champions. Hooda committed silly errors on most of the occasions by going for unnecessary tackles and also stepping out during important raids. He has got only 19 tackle points from eight matches this season and has a success rate of 45.94% from 37 tackle attempts. His lacklustre performance has affected the Tamil Thalaivas big time and they are still lying at the bottom of the Zone B points table with only two wins from eight matches.  

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