Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 54 of PKL 5
The last night in Delhi gave us an offensive exhibition with Rahul Chaudhari and Kashiling Adake, two of the all-time leading raiders in the history of the competition, scoring big to lead their sides to commanding wins.
Dabang Delhi became the first side to finish their home leg winless as they went down to the Titans. 22-points was the margin of victory as the Telugu Titans crushed them 44-22. Earlier, U Mumba beat the Bengaluru Bulls 42-30, the night being marked by high-scoring encounters.
Here are the main talking points from our final night in Delhi.
#1 Bulls lose patience with Ajay Kumar
The hope was that this season would be different for the Bengaluru Bulls and Rohit Kumar. After having been overly burdened with raiding duties last season, it was assumed that the load would be significantly lighter this time around thanks to the presence of Ajay Kumar, a man who was central to the Jaipur Pink Panthers' run to the final in Season 4.
Yet, after a promising start, Rohit has once again found himself on his own with regards to notching up raid points with Ajay's form anything but inspiring. Coach Randhir Singh opted to drop Ajay for tonight's game against U Mumba, keeping the young Harish Naik instead after he picked up a Super 10 in the last game.
Sunil Jaipal, an all-rounder, was brought in in place of Ajay to shore up the defence. Even during a last-man-standing situation during this match, the Bulls opted to go with Gurvinder Singh over Ajay, making him pretty much the fourth-choice raider at the moment for the Bulls.
What a fall from grace it has been for him. He has scored just 62 points thus far from 17 games, a very poor return indeed. It is already a tough ask for the Bulls to make the playoffs; one wonders if Ajay is going to be a major part of the finish to the season for them.