Chaudhari, Narwal: 5 Players That Have Rocked Pro Kabaddi League
Here’s a look at the five players that have shone in the fifth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League so far.
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One and a half weeks of the fifth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League has gone by and a lot of action has already taken place. Puneri Paltan and U Mumba are the leaders in zone A, while Patna Pirates and Bengaluru Bulls are leading in zone B at the moment.
Rahul Chaudhari has notched the most raid points, and Vishal Bhardwaj has clinched the most tackle points in the tournament so far, but their team Telugu Titans has managed to win just one match.
The duo maybe the leading scorers in their respective skill-sets because the Titans have played the most number of matches, but Chaudhari and Bhardwaj can still be counted as one of the top performers in the competition because some of their excellent performances came during immense pressure.
Here’s a look at the five players that have shone in the competition so far.
1. Rahul Chaudhari
With 51 points, Rahul Chaudhari is leading the raiders points in the tournament, but he hasn’t had enough support from his team to record victories.
Chaudhari is doing everything he can, but the team cannot just rely on him. This tournament will go on for three months, other raiders will have to find a way to step up.
The Telugu Titans though were saved from losing their sixth match in a row, when Chaudhari pulled off two points in the penultimate minute of the match against Bengaluru Bulls on Tuesday.
The two points helped the Titans level the score with the Bulls. A raid point each was taken by both the teams thereafter, and the match ended in a draw.
2. Pardeep Narwal
Pardeep Narwal (42) has notched the third most raid points in the competition so far. And his team Patna Pirates has been ruling the roost in zone B. They are presently leading the standings with 15 points.
The one game that Narwal will certainly remember from this competition is the match against Bengaluru on 6 August.
He struggled to get a raid point until the fifth minute of the match, but since his first successful raid, he scored at least one point in each of his raids in the rest of the match. Narwal scored 10 points and Patna won 46-32.
There was a moment in the match, when Narwal was looking to get back to his team’s half and a defender was blocking him. He just rolled over him and returned to his half!
3. Vishal Bhardwaj
Vishal Bhardwaj is the leading point scorer as far as the tackle points is concerned. He has scored 19 points so far.
However, Bharadwaj is currently leading a poor defence group at the Telugu Titans. There are only two Telegu players – Vishal Bhardwaj and Rakesh Kumar, who are in the top 20 list of the leading tackle points scorers.
But, Bharadwaj still has had his moments. In the match against Bengaluru on Tuesday, he pulled off two ankle holds in the space of three minutes to reduce the point gap between the two teams.
4. Surender Nada
Haryana Steelers’ Surender Nada has clinched the second most tackle points – 17 points – in the tournament so far. His team has ticked all the boxes as far as the results are concerned.
The Steelers have recorded a win, loss and a tie in three matches. They are currently placed third in the standings in zone A.
After they lost to U Mumba by only one point and tied with Gujarat Fortunegiants, the Steelers came out with all guns blazing in their second match against Gujarat on 8 August. And Nada was in the centre of it along with Mohit Chillar.
In the first half, Chillar went against Sukesh Hegde as he attempted to raid, while Nada attacked Hegde from behind and got him out.
The duo ensured that the defence is top notch throughout the match and eventually Haryana won 32-20.
5. Rohit Kumar
Rohit Kumar is second in the leading raid points list with 44 points. The raider’s team Bengaluru Bulls is also going through a similar problem like the Telugu Titans. They have been able to win only two out of their five matches. The Bulls have lost two and tied one match.
However, Kumar rose to the occasion when Bengaluru were up against Rahul Chaudhari’s Telugu Titans on 30 July.
Kumar notched a whopping 12 raid points in the match and the Bulls beat the Titans 31-21.
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