Pro Kabaddi League 2018, Season 6: Top 5 defenders from the Chennai leg
The sixth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League 2018 saw the finish of the Chennai Leg of the competition as the teams battled it out on the mat at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The host side Tamil Thalaivas sounded off the home leg in great authority when they beat the defending three-time Pro Kabaddi League champions Patna Pirates on the opening day of the competition in a good all-around show led by the captain Ajay Thakur. However, as the home leg continued on, the Thalaivas found it tough to get going and ended up losing four matches on the trot against the UP Yoddha, Telugu Titans, Bengaluru Bulls, and the Bengal Warriors.
U Mumba and Puneri Paltan played out a drawn match in an exciting Maharashtra Derby and there was another tied game when the Dabang Delhi KC side drew with last year's finalists Gujarat Fortunegiants on the third day of the competition.
Puneri Paltan won their second match against the Haryana Steelers with a convincing win after Nitin Tomar's heroics on the mat. Their state rivals, U Mumba also added a victory to their bag when they defeated the Jaipur Pink Panthers side who were led by their former skipper Anup Kumar.
UP Yoddha had a mixed bag of results as they lost out on the final day against the Patna Pirates after winning against the Tamil Thalaivas earlier in the season. Their raiding trio of Rishank Devadiga, Shrikant Jadhav and Prashant Kumar Rai showed a lot of promise and will hope to aspire for good results as the season progresses.
With the end of the thrilling action from southern India in Chennai, the carnival now moves on to the North with Sonepat, Haryana hosting the next leg.
With so much action going on the mat, the defenders had a lot to do on the mat. We take a look at the top five defenders from the Chennai leg:
#5 Manjeet Chillar - Tamil Thalaivas
One of the most experienced defenders in the Pro Kabaddi League, Manjeet Chillar joined the Tamil Thalaivas for this season, reuniting with former teammates Ajay Thakur and Jasvir Singh.
Manjeet's experience and leadership on the mat were important for the Thalaivas as they put on a strong performance against the Patna Pirates in the opening match. Manjeet manned the left corner position for the side and managed to score 16 tackle points in five matches. He will hope to deliver a better performance from the upcoming matches as the leg saw his performance deteriorate after starting out strong.
Tackle Points - 16 Points from 5 matches (3.2 points per match)