The Vivo Pro Kabaddi League season 8 has churned out some real thrillers. Till now, 16 games have ended in a tie this campaign, and there are still a significant number of fixtures to be played.
One thing which makes this season different from other seasons is the emergence of new defenders in almost every side.
The league’s best defenders have not been able to live up to their potential till now. Fazel Atrachali, Manjeet Chillar, Ravindra Pahel haven’t been at their best.
While the burden of captaincy has put extra pressure on Fazel, Manjeet has just been poor in general, while Pahel has been struggling with an injury.
In the first half of the league, U Mumba’s Atrachali could not gather many tackle points as he admitted in one of his interactions with the media that he focused more on his team’s tactics than his game. He has since then been able to find his touch, and he has 32 tackle points to his name now from 16 matches.
Manjeet, on the other hand, has gathered only 35 tackle points from 17 encounters. He has led Dabang Delhi in a couple of fixtures, and as captain, he did well, but otherwise, his performance has been topsy turvy.
If the stalwarts of the league have had a tough time in the league so far, younger defenders have made a name for themselves. Sagar, Jaideep, Mohammadreza Chiyaneh have stepped up for their respective teams.
Sagar has been a shining light for the Tamil Thailavas this season, along with their captain PO Surjeet Singh. Sagar has so far amassed 67 tackle points in 16 games, which sees him top-placed on the list of of the most effective defenders in the ongoing season. Skipper Singh, meanwhile, is fifth on the list with 46 tackle points.
The other young defender to have impressed this season is Jaideep. The 29-year-old has been pretty impressive for Haryana Steelers as he has gathered 52 tackle points from 17 outings.
Jaideep Dahiya crosses the 5️⃣0️⃣ Tackle Point mark in his debut season of #VivoProKabaddi 🤩
— Haryana Steelers (@HaryanaSteelers) January 31, 2022
Jaldi se 💯 poore karne hain bhai! 💪🏻#DhummaThaaDenge🔥 #HSvGG #SuperHitPanga pic.twitter.com/fjJd72hTBA
Patna Pirates’ Chiyaneh has been rocking the Pro Kabaddi League in his debut season as well he has scored 49 tackle points from 15 games.
Overall the league has seen the emergence of new defenders while the old stalwarts are struggling for form.
