Star of the Day: Maninder Singh

Name: Maninder Singh

Team: Bengal Warriors

Position: Raider

It was the night of the Warriors in VIVO Pro Kabaddi on Wednesday as the team from Bengal managed to win their opening game for the first time since Season 3. They took down an already low-on-morale Telugu Titans side 30-24 as the home team had no answer to their quick raids. The raider who impressed the most on the night was Maninder Singh.

Making a comeback to VIVO Pro Kabaddi following a three-season hiatus, the raider put in some strong, fast raids early on to take the game away from the Titans. He scored 9 raids points and was instrumental in the 9^th-minute Telugu Titans All-Out. He also managed 2 tackle points to bring his match tally to 11. He and Korean Jang Kun Lee exposed the weak Telugu Titans defence, which has been plaguing them since the first game.

Maninder also displayed a smart kabaddi brain as he got tackled only twice during his 16 raids. When the team needed him to be out in the middle he was happy to put in an empty raid instead of going too deep into the opponent’s half and being brought down. As a result, he missed out on a super 10 but more importantly was able to get his team over the line. He will definitely look to build on his fine form in the coming matches.