Ranking Pro Kabaddi League teams based on defensive performances in season 4
They say you get hit the hardest when you try and run away from a problem. But that doesn’t hold for Kabaddi. Stand strong or run away, chances are you’re going to get hit – and get hit really bad.
While it’s the raiders that generally command the spotlight, this year we’ve been witness to some immaculate defensive performances.
Castrol Activ’s Actibonds cling on and protect the engine, even when it’s off, enabling better performance for your bike. This is exactly like how a good outing for defenders in Kabaddi helps the raiders go and attack without concern.
We rank all the eight teams based on their defensive performances in Pro Kabaddi season four –
Bengal Warriors
If Kabaddi results were only dependent on successful tackles, Bengal would have had a real shot at the semi-finals.
The Warriors produced a commendable, 8.35 tackle points per match – fourth on the list. In the process, they notched up a whopping 117 successful tackles in their fourteen games. No individual shone through for Bengal, they defended well as a team.
Unfortunately for them, they severely lacked an extra raider to aid Jang Kun Lee in attack, something that proved costly for them as they finished at the bottom of the league table - winning just three of their fourteen matches.
The absence of a solid group of raiders eventually added a lot of pressure onto their defense, and they crumbled under that pressure, conceding 438 points through the season.
U Mumba
One look at the raids table and you would have expected Mumbai to be in the final four. The men in orange accumulated a massive 188 successful raids, only eleven behind first placed Pune in this department.
However, the effect of the departure of key defenders was clearly visible on the mat as they conceded 422 points in their 14 matches.
Surjeet had big shoes to fill and found it taxing while veteran Jeeva Kumar had a season to forget. He was picked out on numerous occasions with ease by opposition raiders.
It meant Rakesh Kumar had to play out of position at left corner where he didn’t perform too badly but coach Bhaskaran would have always preferred a specialist left corner than a makeshift one.