PKL 2019 | Studs and duds from the Chennai leg ft. Srinivas Reddy, Patna Pirates and Referees
While the Chennai leg of the PKL did not prove to be a great one for the hosts, it had a huge impact on the league. Be it teams who had been written off making a mini comeback into the playoff race or a Superstar finally coming into his own at his now home, it was incredibly exciting.
Studs
Siddharth Desai : I hate repeating players from the team of the leg in the Studs and Duds. But just to reiterate he scored 18 points in one game. And he did it in just 18 raids. There is no one who watches sports and doesn’t like a comeback story. This could quite well be the start of an extraordinary run for the Titans in their bid to make the playoffs. They have always had the defence to do it and if the raiding department is sorted, we might have a new super team in the league with Desai as their face.
Srinivas Reddy : There is just one thing I want to tell Srinivas Reddy. THANK YOU! Before Jaipur’s game against Tamil Thalaivas, Star Sports aired a part of a Reddy interview where he could be heard saying that Tamil were filled with ‘experienced, aged players who are close to retirement’. The stars in Chennai did not take too kindly to the comments and as a result, we were treated to one of the most aggressive and entertaining games in recent memory. Maybe we need a few more of these comments to get the best of teams.
Puneri Paltan and Telugu Titans : While Telugu won their only game of the leg quite comfortably, Pune managed to get eight points in their two games. It could have been 10, had Surjeet calculated the Do or Die raids at the end of the game, which is shocking considering he plays for Anup Kumar - a man who built his legacy on intelligence. Anyway, the results mean that the teams which would have been written off by now are right back into the race for the playoffs. With the Delhi leg starting today, if these teams can keep it up, we are in for a huge ending to the league stage.
Duds
Patna Pirates : After three consecutive titles, Patna Pirates missed out on the playoffs last season. And the way things are going right now, it looks like their fans might have to suffer through the same this year as well. While Pardeep Narwal is still putting up video game numbers when he is on the mat, the rest of the team still seems to be on vacation. This season Pardeep has missed almost one half of kabaddi per game (17 minutes) because no one has been able to revive him. Forget Pardeep being robbed of greatness, I feel even worse for the fans who are being cheated out of their hard-earned money by the remainder of the Patna side.
Ran Singh : With Manjeet Chhillar going down during the Thalaivas’ home leg, the onus was on Ran Singh to steady the ship. He started off the home leg brilliantly with two four-point games but what followed was nothing short of embarrassing for a man of his talent. The part that should piss off Tamil fans is that he was having an incredible season - arguably his best season statistically - until the last two games. Against Jaipur, he attempted just one tackle, missing that one as well while against Mumba he attempted four and had a 50% success rate. He looked like he was struggling - so much so that Fazel told Arjun Deshwal to attack him on a do or die.
Officials : What can I say? The look lost at moments in the game. Understandably, kabaddi is a rapid game and not everything can be seen in real-time but how TV umpires are messing up reviews is just comical at times. But that is not why they sit in our Duds section for this week. It is for their sheer inability to control players. Gone are the days when the referee’s decision would be accepted straight away. Players are getting right into referee’s faces and the referee just issues the green card, when it is quite clear that it is not enough. Maybe it is time to start issuing other cards, if they actually carry them, to bring some control in the game.
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