New trends have emerged at the half-way stage of season VI of the Pro Kabaddi league.
IF THE 2018 Pro Kabaddi auction in June was anything to go by, established notions and patterns faced a challenge this season. It’s panned out exactly that way. At the half-way mark of season VI’s league stage, which wrapped up with U Mumba’s home leg in Mumbai on November 15, new stars seem to have replaced older faces, a foreign coach has marshalled his team to the top of the predominantly Indian league and playing at home doesn’t necessarily yield an advantage to a side any more.
“This season is different from the first five seasons,” says India and Tamil Thalaivas captain Ajay Thakur. “Almost all the teams are equally strong, and there are more shock results to come. The reason for that is many new faces have made a mark this season.”U Mumba’s Siddharth Desai, 26, may have been a little late in making his league debut, but he has come into his own in his maiden season. The 6’2” tall raider notched up 100 raid points during the match against Gujarat Fortune Giants, reaching the milestone in only nine matches, becoming the joint fastest-tothe-mark with Telugu Titans talisman Rahul Chaudhuri.
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