Pro Kabaddi 2019: Vikas Kandola, Prashant key for Haryana Steelers' success

Haryana Steelers have the 4th best raid point average as well as the 4th best raid strike rate among all teams in Pro Kabaddi 2019

In Match 90 of Pro Kabaddi 2019, Tamil Thalaivas will lock horns with Haryana Steelers at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune on Saturday. The tables have completely turned since the last time these two teams met. When Tamil Thalaivas took on Haryana Steelers earlier in the season, Vikas Kandola was just returning from injury. The match against Tamil Thalaivas was his first match of the season. Haryana’s other main raider, Prashanth Kumar Rai, was also sidelined with injury.

Check Pro Kabaddi points table and schedule here

Tamil Thalaivas had enjoyed a good start to the season with Rahul Chaudhari and particularly Manjeet Chhillar in great form, averaging almost five tackle points per game. But now, the two teams are at opposite ends of the table with Haryana Steelers boasting one of the best raiding units and Tamil Thalaivas having one of the worst defences.

Top Raiding Teams - PKL 2019				Lowest Scoring Defensive Teams - PKL 2019
Team	Avg. Raid Points	Raid SR		Team	Avg. Tackle Points	Tackle SR
Dabang Delhi	20.7	51		Tamil Thalaivas	8.7	40
Bengaluru Bulls	20.1	47		Dabang Delhi	9.1	40
Bengal Warriors	19.9	48		Bengal Warriors	9.7	43
Haryana Steelers	18.6	45		U Mumba	9.9	48

 

Haryana Steelers have the 4th best raid point average as well as the 4th best raid strike rate among all teams this season. Tamil Thalaivas now have the lowest tackle point average (8.7) as well as the joint-lowest tackle SR (40).

WATCH: Tamil Thalaivas vs Haryana Steelers video highlights
 



Vikas Kandola: The ace in the pack for Haryana Steelers

Vikas Kandola is one of only 6 raiders who touched the 100-raid-point mark. Despite him being 6th in the list of leading raid point scorers (103 raid points), he has managed to reach that milestone in fewer matches as he missed Haryana’s initial matches due to injury. He has the 4th best raid point average this season behind Pawan Sehrawat, Naveen Kumar and Pardeep Narwal.

Highest Raid Point Average - PKL 2019
Raider	Raid Point Avg.
Pawan Sehrawat	12.9
Naveen Kumar	12.4
Pardeep Narwal	11.5
Vikas Kandola	9.4

 

He has scored 6 Super 10s this season and his team has made sure to convert his Super 10s into victory each time. He is the only raider with a 100% conversion rate when it comes to Super 10s translating into victories for the team this season.

Impact of scoring a SUPER 10 - PKL 7 (*Raiders with min. of 5 SUPER 10s)
Raiders	Super 10s	Won	Lost	Tied	Win%
Vikas Kandola	6	6	0	0	100%
Naveen Kumar	13	10	2	1	77%
Pawan Sehrawat	10	7	3	0	70%
Maninder Singh	6	4	2	0	67%
Pardeep Narwal	9	3	6	0	33%

 

Experience counts nothing for Thalaivas’ defence

While many hailed the presence of veterans in the Tamil Thalaivas line-up as one of their biggest strengths, in reality it has been nothing for them so far. Despite having three defenders with over 100 matches to their name and 3 of the top 10 leading tackle point scorers in PKL history, there seems to be no coordination between them.

Manjeet Chhillar post his return from injury has been shockingly poor and neither Mohit Chhillar or Ran Singh have inspired any confidence either. The mistakes in the last 5 matches have not come from any one defender, but from all of them. Only Sagar, the new youngster who has been given a chance, has a failed tackle percentage less than 60%.

Manjeet, Mohit, Ajeet and Ran Singh all have a tackle failure rate above 70%. Not a single defender is averaging even 2 tackle points per match in these last 5 matches.

Tamil Thalaivas Defenders – Last 5 Matches
Defender	Matches	Tackles	Failed Tackle %	Avg. Tackle Points
Manjeet Chhillar	5	32	72%	1.8
Ajeet	5	22	82%	0.8
Mohit Chhillar	4	19	79%	1.3
Sagar	5	16	56%	1.6
Ran Singh	4	15	87%	0.8