Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 42 of PKL 5
The last day of the Haryana leg of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 had only one fixture for the crowds at the Motilal School of Sports, who came hoping to see the Dhaakad Boys finish their home leg on a high in a match against bottom placed Jaipur Pink Panthers.
The Haryana Steelers, without the services of their best defenders, had the match under control for the first 35 minutes but some brilliant raiding by young Nitin Rawal ensured that they didn't finish their home leg with a win. The 27-27 tie though, helped the Steelers to go to the top of the table while the Panthers managed to leapfrog Dabang Delhi to fifth position on the table
Here are the five talking points from the day!
#1 Contrasting defensive performances by the teams
The decision to rest both Surender Nada and Manjeet Chillar looked baffling at the beginning of the game, especially with the opposition team coming back to full strength after a long time by bringing in Manjeet Chhillar and Jasvir Singh into the mix. And it looked worse when both the replacement corners began proceedings by conceding easy points. For once, it seemed the Haryana defence would fare poorly in the absence of their best defenders.
However, as the game progressed, right corner Vikas started delivering the goods with some impressive ankle holds on Jasvir Singh and Tushar Patil. On the other hand, the Panthers defence came a cropper despite the presence of Manjeet Chhilar and couldn’t bring about a single tackle point in their first half. Chhillar had a woeful comeback match except for the couple of crucial tackle points he got his team in the last few minutes of the game.