Pro Kabaddi League 2018, Panchkula Leg: Top 5 raiders from Jaipur's home leg
The Jaipur Pink Panthers ended their home leg on a thrilling note as the Deepak Hooda-led side battled tooth and nail to finish with a 40-40 tie against Dabang Delhi K.C at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, Haryana.
With the tie against Delhi, Jaipur finished their six home games with two wins, two losses, and two tied encounters, adding more spice to the exciting six days of thrilling action.
The Panthers kicked off their home leg with a dominating 36-23 win over the Puneri Paltan and with a must-win situation, faced off against U Mumba in their next match. A power-packed performance from Siddharth Desai overshadowed Deepak Hooda's Super-10 but in the end, a 35-35 tie saw the Panthers pulling out of the race to book a spot in the playoffs.
The Panthers faced off against the Gujarat Fortunegiants in two games with one game against the Haryana Steelers sandwiched between the games against Gujarat. Following Jaipur's 29-34 loss against Gujarat in the first of two games, the hosts came back strong against Haryana to register a 39-30 win but yet again came short against Gujarat as the table toppers from Zone 'A' clinched a thrilling 33-31 win.
With Delhi fielding a young side for the Panthers' final home game, the hosts were expected to exhibit a strong fight but in the end, the game came down to the final minute as the honors were shared on the day with the home team ending their leg with a mixed bag of results.
While Deepak Hooda led the way with some stellar performances, the likes of Desai, Narwal and Sehrawat had some top shows as well. Here are five raiders who shone in the Panchkula leg.
#5 Rohit Kumar - Bengaluru Bulls
The Bengaluru skipper had a top outing in both the Bulls' games as his mature raiding came to the fore which piled pressure on the opposition defense. In the Bulls' first game against the Telugu Titans, Rohit picked up just the six raid points but his experience took over as he knocked the time off the clock in order to ensure the Bulls had a massive 44-28 win in the end.
The Patna Pirates came next and in a battle that was set to ensue between Pardeep Narwal and Pawan Sehrawat, Rohit Kumar was the man in focus for Bengaluru as he notched up his 5th Super-10 of the season.
In the final ten minutes, with less than three men on the mat, Rohit mixed pace with maturity as he collected a bonus plus touch point on numerous occasions and kept Bengaluru in the hunt for a win. On one occasion, as the lone man on the mat, he even picked up a super raid, which ensured that Bengaluru did not face much of a deficit in the end.
Rohit finished with 21 points from two games, from 40 raids in all.