Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 61 of PKL 5
The first day of the Jaipur leg of season five of the Pro Kabaddi League saw two extremely entertaining matches. Home side Pink Panthers ran Zone A leaders Gujarat Fortunegiants close before eventually succumbing to a 29-23 loss.
The second match of the day was the Inter-Zone wildcard match between heavyweights Bengal Warriors and Puneri Paltan, which was a nail-biting clash that was eventually decided by two big plays, with the Warriors winning 25-18.
#1 Jaipur slowed the pace down but Gujarat adapted well
The Pink Panthers opened proceedings at home with a good display of defensive kabaddi, slowing the pace of the game down. They forced the visiting Fortunegiants to move away from their naturally attacking style and made it into a defensive slugfest.
Both teams put up solid defensive performances, falling deep into their zone to draw the raiders in, before attacking them from the other side to gain points.
Jasvir Singh had a bad day as a raider but put in a lot of effort on the defensive end, earning four tackle points to keep Jaipur in the match. Sidharth also stepped in with a couple of crucial ankle holds to score two tackle points.
Gujarat's defenders had a great day, with Parvesh Bhainswal scoring four points while Abozar Mighani stepped up at crucial junctures with powerful ankle holds.
Fazel Atrachali did a great job of cleaning up raids, putting in solid dashes from left corner, scoring three points in the process.
The Fortunegiants' raiders made all the difference, with Sachin scoring six points, getting crucial bonus points and touches while Chandran Ranjit got the only all out of the match to put the result beyond doubt, ending with seven points.