Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 39 of PKL 5
Zone A teams have had the upper hand in the Inter-Zone challenges thus far in Season 5. That trend was arrested on Sunday though as it was all Zone B on Day 39.
On a night dominated by low-scoring contests, the Bengaluru Bulls finally picked up a win, beating the Puneri Paltan 24-20 while in the second game, the Telugu Titans beat the home side Haryana Steelers 37-19. Much-needed wins for two struggling sides.
Here's a look at what stood out on the night:
#1 No Do, only Die
The Bengaluru Bulls after having lost six straight finally won a game against the much more fancied Puneri Paltan in a slow, cagey and plodding affair to kick-start the night. Both teams opted to play on the Do or Die raid, forcing their opponents to come out trumps in those moments.
It was the defences though that emerged triumphant in this contest as the Do or Die raids, almost 75% of the time saw the raider getting captured. Rohit Kumar, Ajay Kumar and Deepak Hooda are all amongst the best raiders in the business, but they weren't given any respite by the two defences as they made it extremely hard for them to emerge successful.
There was no glory to be had in the Do or Die raids as the raiders sank rather than swam for most of the game. With both teams trading blows, the teams ended up with four or five men on the mat a lot of the time which meant that even the Bonus Point was taken out of the equation, making it harder for the teams to avoid being forced into the Do or Die raids.
There was just the one All Out in the entire game; the Bulls enforcing it, something which ultimately proved to be the difference in the end. The top performers in the game were all defenders, led by Kuldeep Singh of the Bulls with five points. Sunil Jaipal, also of the Bulls and the Paltan's Dharmaraj Cheralathan had four each to their name.