Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 2 of PKL 5
Day 2 of Pro Kabaddi Season 5 kicked off with a battle between two veteran-heavy teams in Jaipur Pink Panthers and Dabang Delhi. The Panthers, winners of the inaugural season, are under new leadership having roped in star all-rounder Manjeet Chillar during the auction. After a strong start though, it was Meraj Sheykh's Dabangs that emerged victorious in a thrilling contest.
The second contest was the blockbuster for the night featuring two of the most explosive raiders in the game with Rahul Chaudhari's Telugu Titans taking on the 2-time defending champions, Patna Pirates, led by Pardeep Narwal.
In a fantastic contest, the defending champions emerged victorious with a strong finish that saw them deny the Titans a second-straight win as well as Rahul Chaudhari his personal milestone.
#1 Delhi recover after slow start with some Iranian magic
It was the Pink Panthers that made the stronger start in the first game of the night as they jumped out to an 11-4 lead midway through the first half after a super raid from Jasvir Singh.
Jasvir was out on his very first raid of the night but recovered well to inflict damage on Delhi with a massive raid in the first that removed both Bajirao Hodage and Nilesh Shinde. Dabang captain Meraj also spent a lot of time on the sideline unable to help his team.
That all changed in the second half as Meraj came into his own along with sound help in the raiding department from fellow Iranian Abolfazl Maghsodlou who came on as a substitute late in the first half. The two Iranians wreaked havoc with Abolfazl crucially getting Manjeet and Jasvir off the mat with two superb raids late in the first half that set the tone for his team's comeback.
Abolfazl had four points in all while Meraj finished with seven points overall. Nilesh Shinde, the former captain of the Bengal Warriors, had a strong defensive showing with five tackle points for his new team.