Pro Kabaddi League, Season 6: Top 5 defensive performances from the Pune leg
The Pune leg of Pro Kabbadi League 2018 has been special as it comprised of both Intra-Zonal and Inter-Zonal matches, and gave a chance for teams to perform against a variety of oppositions.
This leg had a better outcome for the home side in comparison to the other two legs which were miserable for the home sides who barely managed to put together a couple of wins.
Puneri Paltan started off their home leg with a loss against the Gujarat Fortunegiants, but then they got their game together to string together three consecutive wins against the Jaipur Pink Panthers, U Mumba, and the Bengaluru Bulls. The final 2 matches of the leg for the home side turned out to be losses as the fatigue from the hectic schedule took a toll on their players and their performances.
For some teams (Bengal Warriors, Dabang Delhi, Gujarat Fortunegiants, Tamil Thalaivas, UP Yoddha) the Pune leg was a no-loss affair, while some (Haryana Steelers, Jaipur Pink Panthers, Patna Pirates) found it difficult to find a win and the remaining teams (Bengaluru Bulls, Telugu Titans, U Mumba) had a mixed bag of results.
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In all the excitement provided by raiders, the likes of Siddharth Desai, Nitin Tomar, Ajay Thakur, and others, who provided the glamour to the game of Kabaddi, we tend to forget the role of the defenders who are equally as responsible for a team's fortunes.
So from among many fine defensive performances in this leg, 5 performances have been selected which were a notch above the others, and gave their team the decisive edge to win that particular encounter.
So here are the top 5 defensive performances from the Pune leg:
#5 Surjeet Singh (Bengal Warriors) - 6 points vs UP Yoddha
In a match which ended in a tie (40-40) with the raiders of either team scoring identical with 25 raid points each, it was the defence of the Bengal Warriors that kept them in the game against the strong attacking trio (Rishank-Shrikant-Prashant) of the Yoddhas.
Surjeet Singh, the Bengal Warriors captain, contributed with 6 tackle points which were 50% of his team's total tackle points. Not only that he organized his team into effective defensive formations to curb the scoring instinct of the Yoddhas.