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The fifth leg of Pro Kabaddi 2019 witnessed some hard-hitting rivalries ignite and tightly-contested matches take place. Tamil Thalaivas remained winless in their home leg at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.
Tamil Thalaivas lost their first match against Bengaluru Bulls 21-32 followed by a nail-biting tie against Puneri Paltan that ended at 31-31. Thalaivas failed to bag a victory in the next two outings, losing to Jaipur Pink Panthers 26-28 and U Mumba 24-29 in their home leg.
Not finding momentum in the raiding department became a threat for the Thalaivas in their home leg as the raiders failed to score points consistently. The defence was up to the mark, however, Manjeet Chhillar's absence in the last two games imbalanced the side.
However, Tamil Thalaivas found themselves a sensation in the local boy from Tamil Nadu. V Ajith Kumar helped the Thalaivas bag three points in the standings from a tie. Mohit Chhillar and Ran Singh were decent as they performed consistently to aid the defence. Ajay Thakur returned to form and provided support to Rahul Chaudhari in the raiding.
Based upon the consistency and all-round performances, let's have a look at the top three teams who could be in line to win Pro Kabaddi title after Chennai leg.
#3 Telugu Titans
Telugu Titans had a match against Haryana Steelers in the Chennai leg where they displayed brilliant all-round performance of the team as a unit. The Titans dominated the game right from the start, leaving no chance for a Haryana Steelers win.
Siddharth Desai, who was in sublime form, wreaked havoc upon the consistent defence of Haryana by scoring 18 raid points. He managed to score raid points with a 100% successful strike rate and led the offence brilliantly. Suraj Desai assisted him in the raids as well by scoring seven raid points.
The defence too got into scoring points consistently as a unit. Skipper Abozar Mighani and Vishal Bhardwaj scored three tackle points each. Farhad Milaghardan and C Arun bagged two tackle points and assisted the defence pretty well.
In the most dominant result by Telugu Titans thus far, they managed to work well as a unit. If the team can work well together in the upcoming matches, Telugu Titans can perhaps win the Pro Kabaddi title this season.
#2 Dabang Delhi K.C.
Dabang Delhi K.C. has been phenomenal so far in this edition of Pro Kabaddi. They have been an unbeatable team, oozing sheer confidence from both offensive and defensive departments this season.
They played a solitary match versus Bengal Warriors in the Chennai leg as the teams played out a tie (30-30). 'Dabang Express' Naveen Goyat proved to be commanding against Bengal's defense with a brilliant Super 10 to his name. Delhi kick-started the proceedings with a super raid from Chandran Ranjit in the very first raid of the match. They remained dominant till half-time, with the score 18-10 in their favour.
It came down to the wire in the 13th minute of the second half after a decent comeback from K Prapanjan. Both teams fought neck-to-neck where Bengal Warriors were about to win the match due to an umpiring error. The decision got reviewed by Dabang Delhi as the final raid of K Prapanjan got adjudged as an empty raid that saved the match for them. Joginder Narwal became the top defender from Delhi with four tackle points.
Delhi have remained consistent courtesy of their rock-solid defense with their star raider in Naveen Goyat. Their level of competence this season has not been matched so far in the league as Dabang Delhi stand as the top contenders for the title this season.
#1 Bengal Warriors
In every passing week of Pro Kabaddi 2019, Bengal Warriors have remained as one of the most consistent sides in this season. The raiding trio of Bengal led by Maninder Singh along with a formidable defense led by Jeeva Kumar has shown competency as the tournament has reached its mid-stages.
Bengal Warriors fought neck-to-neck versus Dabang Delhi K.C. as both competitive sides of this season played out a tie (30-30). K Prapanjan led the offense with a Super 10 as he scored touch points against Delhi's defense with tactical maturity. Esmaeil Nabibakhsh, Maninder Singh, and Sukesh Hedge scored three raid points each. Veteran Jeeva Kumar and young Rinku Narwal shone in the defense to give away a balanced performance.
The Warriors fought Patna Pirates in their second match of the Chennai leg in what was a dominant performance right from the first half of the encounter. Maninder Singh achieved 600 total points in Pro Kabaddi with a brilliant Super 10 followed by six raid points for K Prapanjan. Rinku Narwal scored a High 5 against the likes of Pardeep Narwal and Esmaeil Maghsoudlou with decent support from Jeeva Kumar and Baldev Singh.
A young side, Bengal Warriors have outsmarted their opponents with much-needed performances from all the departments. For the third week in a row, they remain the top favourites to win the Pro Kabaddi title this year.
