5 things that went wrong with Tamil Thalaivas in their home leg of Season 6
After retaining Ajay Thakur for an enormous amount of ₹76.23 lakhs, the team management of Tamil Thalaivas was consistent in building a strong squad for Season 6. The disappointed people of Chennai had some reason to smile as the team got predicted as one of the strongest on paper.
The Chennai leg of Pro Kabaddi Season 6 commenced in a blockbuster fashion as the team that stood in the bottom of the table last year beat the 3-time defending champions, Patna Pirates, outclassing them in both raiding and defensive unit in a one-sided encounter (42-26).
In spite of having a Super 10, Pardeep Narwal had a nightmare with Manjeet Chhillar and Amit Hooda into the opposite corners. Ajay Thakur's masterclass in the raiding with 14 raid points in 18 raids gave heart pounding remembrance of many fans' previous prediction.
However, a U-turn that awaited Tamil Thalaivas turned practical as things got worse when they lost their remaining four games versus U.P. Yoddha (32-37), Telugu Titans (28-33), Bengaluru Bulls (37-48), and Bengal Warriors (27-36).
The defense that looked dominant at Day 1 changed into a sluggish one. Manjeet and Co. started gifting points to the opposition executing most of the tackles ahead of the bonus line. Ajay Thakur who had fantastic support in CPO Surjeet Singh, Surjeet got an injury that led Ajay to carry the raiding burden on his own. Jasvir Singh's effort was of no use to the team.
In the end, Thalaivas ended their campaign similar to what it looked like back in Season 5. Despite having big names in the squad, many Kabaddi fans have non-arguably predicted the same fortune for Thalaivas at the end of Season 6. It will be much harder for the team to build a consistent squad with a lot of injury-prone names in the squad ahead of the tournament.
Let's take a look at five reasons on what went wrong for Tamil Thalaivas in their home leg:
#5 Manjeet Chhillar - Left Corner?
Considering how Manjeet Chhillar's speed and reflexes have reduced over the years and him starting to struggle with his age-factor, Manjeet is a perfect fit in the left cover position. As a corner defender, Manjeet's only arsenal move is the diving ankle hold.
A cover defender can easily take advantage of less reaction time in an attempt of a block/ dash. However, a corner defender needs to have the enormous agility to come down the opposite corner and block/dash the raider which Manjeet lacks.
Using Manjeet as a left corner could be considered a risky move against Pardeep Narwal because of his weakness to the diving ankle hold. However, as it became permanent, Manjeet kept losing points letting the raiders go free.
Manjeet Chhillar could only score 16 tackle points in 31 attempts which could have been far more better if he played the left cover.