PKL 2019 | Studs and duds from Patna leg ft. Neeraj Kumar, Monu Goyat and Nitesh Kumar
The Patna leg of the ongoing seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League has come to an end with the home team getting the better of UP Yoddha on Friday. Few players performed beyond expectations while a few also failed to live up to that, here’s a list of few such players.
Studs
Pawan Sehrawat, Raider, Bengaluru Bulls
After some initial hiccups, Pawan Sehrawat is back to his best and he is the man who is leading the Bulls’ challenge at the moment. With 70 points from five games, Pawan is at the top of the list of raiders in season 7 and also had a great run at the Pataliputra Sports Complex in Patna. Out of the two games played in Bihar’s capital, Pawan collected 42 points. The incredible show against Bengal Warriors gave Pawan a chance to get near Pardeep Narwal’s record of 34 raid points in a single game as the Bengaluru raider managed to get 29 points in 30 attempts. Against Telugu Titans, Pawan not only managed to get 13 raid points but also contributed with the tackles as he scored four points in the Bulls' defence.
Manjeet, Raider, Puneri Paltan
When we talk about Manjeet from the Puneri Paltan team, one will think that we are going to discuss his raids. However, he has got a place in this weeks studs because of his strong show in the team’s defence. After having some terrible matches in the first two legs, Pune finally got two wins in Patna and the former Patna player’s contributions can’t be neglected. Manjeet got three tackle points and three raid points in the game against Patna Pirates and in that he had managed to remove his former skipper twice in the first half. In a Do or die raid in the same game, he went in and proved a point by getting a touch on Neeraj Kumar. If the show against Patna was not enough, the youngster amused one and all with another four tackle points against the last season’s runners-up Gujarat Fortunegiants in the very next game.
Neeraj Kumar, Defender, Patna Pirates
Patna Pirates had a terrible home leg in which they only managed to win only one game and that was on the last day. However, if I am asked about the positive takeaways for the three-time champions from their home leg then the answer will be right corner defender Neeraj Kumar’s performance. With the team failing to perform in the home leg, the pressure was more on skipper Pardeep Narwal and in the defence, all eyes were on Jaideep. However, Neeraj stepped up right in time on Friday and scored a mammoth eight tackle points and played an important role in the win against UP Yoddha. Neeraj’s performance against the team from the neighbouring state was beyond expectations and that would have been a huge boost for the Pirates going ahead in the league.
©PKLDuds
Sunil Kumar, Defender, Gujarat Fortunegiants
One of the major reasons for Gujarat’s wonderful run in season 6 was the partnership of Sunil Kumar and Parvesh Bhainswal in the covers. However, it has become a headache for coach Manpreet Singh in this season. Both Bhainswal and skipper Sunil have struggled and the captain has only 11 tackle points to his name from five games. His pro-activeness as a leader was tested in the game against Puneri Paltan which the Gujarat side lost 31-33 towards the end. Sunil managed to score just one point and got out while attempting to stop the raider on three occasions. Only eight tackle points were scored by Gujarat in the game and collective defensive failure was a primary reason for their loss in that game.
Monu Goyat, Raider, UP Yoddha
Getting Monu Goyat for a whopping 93 lakh rupees, UP Yoddha could have hoped for a good show by the raiding department in season 7. The star raider, however, has disappointed the UP management so far this year and the performance of their raiders have been equally bad. In the two matches that UP Yoddha played in the last leg, Monu scored only seven points in spite of being the primary raider in the team which also have players like Rishank Devadiga and Shrikant Jadhav. In the previous game against Patna Pirates, Monu had as many as five unsuccessful raids which affected the team’s performance as well. Someone of his calibre struggling in the raids has created a lot of problems for Jasveer Singh and the UP Yoddha think tank.
Nitesh Kumar, Defender, UP Yoddha
Another reason for the UP team’s failure in the season is the lack of form for their skipper and right corner defender Nitesh Kumar. The youngster was handed over the team’s captaincy after he had a great season last year where he collected 100 tackle points which is a rarity in the league throughout all editions. However, he has been terribly bad in the tournament this year and although he has mentioned himself that there is nothing about the captaincy pressure, that seems to be one of the reasons for his lack of performance. Last evening against Patna Pirates, Nitesh had as many as five unsuccessful tackles and even fails to open his account. UP’s concern would be Nitesh’s rash tackle attempts which have mostly sent him off the mat on many occasions and a couple of them were seen in the game against Tamil Thalaivas as well where he got only three points.
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