Moments that suffused the Nagpur leg with bright colours

VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 5 bid farewell to the lovely city of Nagpur this Thursday as the action shifted to Ahmedabad. The city had its first glimpse of the league this season as Bengaluru Bulls decided to use it as their home venue in a last-minute move. The seven days saw the Mankapur Indoor Stadium witness some fantastic individual and team performances. Here’s a compilation of the top 5 moments.

Chhillar’s eye-widening record

Manjeet Chhillar or the One Man Army, call him what you want but the legacy he has carved in the sport of kabaddi is sort of unparalleled. The best all-rounder in VIVO Pro Kabaddi added one more jewel to his crown during the Nagpur leg by becoming the first player in the league’s history to cross the milestone of 200 tackle points. This he did against Puneri Paltan on Thursday, and his performance was crucial to Jaipur Pink Panthers’ first win of the season. With 196 successful tackles and 17 High 5s in his VIVO Pro Kabaddi career so far, his dominance is indeed awe-inspiring.

Shinde’s tackle of the season so far

Dabang Delhi K.C. defender Nilesh Shinde’s tackle was one of the most talked-about moments of the Nagpur leg. His presence of mind and nimble toes led to one of the best tackles in VIVO Pro Kabaddi history. Puneri Paltan’s Sandeep Narwal was at the end of Shinde’s moment of brilliance. Narwal came into the raid and was casually roaming around the midway line, paying no heed to Delhi’s main defender. Shinde ensured that he was outside Narwal’s line of vision, quietly prowled towards him from behind and with a burst of speed and power, he ran and dashed the shocked raider off the mat. Shinde did take a massive risk but it paid off very well.

Nada’s cheeky raid

In the match between Haryana Steelers and Gujarat Fortunegiants, the former were in a comfortable lead and appeared keen on running down the clock. Hence, to kill time captain Surender Nada went raiding and after crossing the white line resorted to wasting time around the midline mark. Gujarat’s ace defender Fazel Atrachali, in the meanwhile, had turned his back to take instructions from the coach. Nada, in the blink of an eye, took advantage of his inattentiveness and ran to take the defender by surprise. Atrachali was put on the bench and Nada’s team got a valuable touch point and eventually a big win. Indeed, top-notch presence of mind!

Ajay Kumar’s super raid

Bengaluru Bulls did not have a great home leg but the coach can be happy to see the likes of Ajay Kumar shining brightly besides Rohit Kumar. In the match against Bengal Warriors, who went into this fixture in pristine form, Ajay picked up 8 important raid points that included a brilliant super raid. This super raid handed his team four points and ensured that the Warriors could not make inroads back into the match. This raid single-handedly changed the course of the match and ensured the home team returned to winning ways.

Second draw of the season

The first draw of the season was played out at Hyderabad between Gujarat Fortunegiants and Haryana Steelers but Nagpur also saw a match ending in a draw after a heady encounter, this time between southern rivals Bengaluru Bulls and Telugu Titans. Both the teams helmed by superstars Rohit Kumar and Rahul Chaudhari strongly needed a win to gain their depleted confidence back. The match, however, ended with both teams splitting the points after Chaudhari’s time miscalculation in the dying moments.