Journalism of Courage
The fifth season of Pro Kabaddi got under way on August 28 and the first leg at Hyderabad came to an end on Thursday. Telugu Titans had another go at Patna Pirates in the final game at the Gachibowli stadium and suffered a 36-43 defeat. This is also their worst start in the history of Pro Kabaddi, where the Titans have lost five games on the trot and two against Pirates in a single season. When they won their opening match against league newcomers Tamil Thalaivas, it looked like the Titans may have a smooth ride at home. The reality, though, was that the first day was the only good outing in what has been a horrendous week so far at Hyderabad for the hosts. They were playing a match everyday save for the one-day break and the Titans collapsed under the punishing schedule.
Match of the week: Gujarat Fortunegiants 27-27 Haryana Steelers: It was a story of two teams who were just not ready to give up. On Wednesday, the Fortunegiants and Steelers gave the Gachibowli crowd a match to savour. There were minutes that belonged completely to Gujarat, only to be followed by those dominated by Haryana. The latter even came back from a 20-13 deficit to level the match 23-23. After that, they went blow for blow and shared the spoils in the end.
Raid of the week: Pardeep Narwal’s Super Raid vs Telugu Titans : The fourth match of the week between Telugu Titans and Patna Pirates can be given a ‘Before and After’ division with Pardeep Narwal’s Super Raid being the dividing line. With just a few minutes left on the clock, the Titans had a two-point lead, the stadium was absolutely rocking and Rahul Chaudhari was just a point away from becoming the first to touch 500 raid points. Enter Pardeep ‘Dupki King’ Narwal. The Titans went for the tackle; Narwal jumped over one defender, rolled another over and treated the third to his dupki before getting back into his half – a good day’s work. The Pirates went into the lead. As it turned out, Narwal had defeated the Titans mentally with that piece of skill as his team went on to win 35-29.
Star Watch: Anup Kumar showed that he truly is Captain Cool with the way he handled that first defeat U-Mumba suffered. Meraj Sheykh was stellar in Dabang Delhi’s first match against Jaipur Pink Panthers while the opposition captain Manjeet Chillar cut a frustrated figure.
Star Watch: Nitin Tomar did not seem to be budged at all by the ‘Most expensive player of the league’ tag, helping his UP Yodha in both the defensive and raiding departments.
Surprise element: Sachin Kumar (Gujarat Fortunegiants): Gujarat Fortunegiants are a team of youngsters. Their captain Sukesh Hegde played second fiddle to Rahul Chaudhari until last season. They have had a good start this time, winning their first match and drawing their second. 18-year-old Sachin Kumar has been a revelation in these two matches. He has got them raid points at crucial moments. The youngster goes into the opposition half and dashes around making defenders jump and hop all around him and then runs back dangerously close to the lobby line. Judging from what was on display in Hyderabad, his gung-ho style of raiding attitude is something that one can expect Gujarat to benefit from this season.
Rahul Chaudhari became the first player to score 500 raid points in the history of Pro Kabaddi. He was also the first player to cross 500 points tally during the fourth season of the league.
Gujarat Fortunegiants' Fazel Atrachali became the first overseas player to score 100 defence points.
