Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: 5 player battles to watch out for in the Ahmedabad leg
Season 5 of the Pro Kabaddi League will today enter a new frontier, as it moves to the city of Ahmedabad. The Gujarat Fortunegiants would be looking to make the most of their home advantage and get their campaign back on track after a mixed bag of a beginning.
The Ahmedabad leg will also host part of the Inter Zone Challenge Week as teams from both Zone A and B will go up against each other over the latter half of the next seven days.
With 11 matches to be played, there promises to be a lot of extremely well balanced and entertaining encounters, with the home team featuring in six of these match-ups.
Here are five player battles that will set the tone for the matches during this leg:
#1 Fazel Atrachali (Gujarat Fortunegiants) vs Anup Kumar (U Mumba)
The opening encounter of the Ahmedabad leg will see hosts Gujarat go up against U Mumba, one of the most consistent outfits since the inception of the Pro Kabaddi League.
Legendary Indian national team and Mumba raider Anup Kumar will face his former team-mate Fazel Atrachali, who is spearheading the Fortunegiants' defence after his exploits in previous seasons with both the Mumbai outfit and defending champions Patna Pirates.
Anup has made a steady start to the season so far, accumulating 21 raid points in his three matches, and leads the league in super raids, having already executed two.
Fazel has yet to hit the heights he achieved in previous seasons, having scored only six tackle points till now. However, playing in front of their home crowd, the explosive and powerful Iranian would be focused on stopping his former team-mate and secure the win for his team.