Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 64 of PKL 5
The SawaiMan Singh Stadium in Jaipur was simply buzzing with excitement after witnessing two very closely fought matches, as Pro Kabaddi season 5 action returned after a day’s rest.
In the main match of the day, hosts Jaipur Pink Panthers did further damage to their chances of qualifying for the Super Playoffs, as they lost out to Dabang Delhi by the narrowest of margins.
Meanwhile, in the inter zonal match between U Mumba and the Tamil Thalaivas also ended in great drama as the latter trailed the Mumbai outfit for most of the match, but came back strongly in the end, to finish just three points better.
Ajay Thakur: Raider, tackler, legend
Today’s match was all about one man, Ajay Thakur; at least for the Tamil Thalaivas. The star raider showed once again, why he can be a lethal force even when the defensive department of the side is not performing well.
He took up the responsibility for the bulk of raids for the Thalaivas. In fact, he made more than half of the raids for his side. By comparison, Shrikant Jadhav went onjust a little more than one-thirds of the total number of raids made by U Mumba.
Thakur was brought down only four times out of a total of 25 raids, something that worked well in the Thalaivas’ favour, as their captain constantly kept clocking in the points (total 16 points).
However, it was the last two plays of the match, when Ajay Thakur proved by he is such an asset to the team. With the scores tied at 35-35, Thakur stepped into the opponent half, and stole two raid points, putting immense pressure on Mumbai for their last raid of the match.
However, he did not stop there. He got in a crucial tackle right after that raid to give his side a three-point lead with barely enough time left on the clock for another raid, which was more-or-less rendered redundant.