Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 8
Nagpur is the home arena for the Bengaluru Bulls, but Saturday was like a double home stand for the fans as U Mumba featured in the first game versus Dabang Delhi. Noticeably, there was sizeable support for Mumba as they went on to register their second win of the season, winning 36-22 in convincing fashion.
In a battle between the two most expensive buys of the auction, Nitin Tomar's UP Yoddha took on Rohit Kumar's Bengaluru Bulls. In a contest that produced some delightful kabaddi, the Yoddhas notched up their second win to keep up their perfect record while inflicting the Bulls' first loss of the season, winning 32-27.
#1 Injuries galore
Joginder Narwal of U Mumba began an odd run of players going down with injury in the first half of the first match between Dabang and Mumba. As Mumba got Dabang's Sriram out on a raid with 6:10 remaining in the first half, Joginder hurt his right knee as his defence collapsed on the raider. He walked off gingerly and did not return for the night.
On the very next raid, Kashiling Adake was captured by Dabang, but their captain Meraj Sheykh took a blow to his right shin in the process and was seen ambling about for some time before he eventually managed to shake it off. To cap things off, Dabang raider Anand Patil was also forced off with injury when Mumba's Surinder Singh clattered into his face while tackling him. Patil left with a bloody face as the first half came to an end with a spate of injuries.
Not to be left out, the second game of the night had one of its own and it was a big one too. Star raider Rishank Devadiga twisted his right ankle in a bad way on an empty raid in the first half of his side's encounter against the Bengaluru Bulls. He hobbled back to his side of the court after the raid and was subbed off soon after. He was wreaking havoc until then with five points already to his name and his side missed him in the second half.
It will be interesting to see if any of these injuries have any long-term implications as all of these players are vital cogs for their respective teams.