The best on the mat from VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 6

A host of players enjoyed magnificent campaigns in VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 6, leaving the viewers in awe as they battled to help their sides to victory. While it is difficult to choose just a few players from a multitude of brilliant performers, the following seven stood out in their respective positions as few others did. Here they are:

Right Raider - Pawan Kumar Sehrawat

Bengaluru Bulls’ Pawan Kumar Sehrawat capped off a brilliant season with a mammoth 22-point performance in the final against Gujarat Fortunegiants to help his team win their maiden VIVO Pro Kabaddi title. Sehrawat finished Season 6 as the leading raid-point-scorer with 271 to his name and also contributed 11 tackle points in defence. One of his most memorable tackles was his Dash on Gujarat Fortunegiants’ Rohit Gulia in Match 69 to earn a tie for his team. Sehrawat led the league in Super Raids with 12 and also boasted of a season-best average of 11.29 raid points per game. For his efforts in leading Bengaluru Bulls to the title, Sehrawat was named the Most Valuable Player of Season 6.

Left raider - Siddharth Desai

Rookie sensation Siddharth Desai took the kabaddi world by storm in his debut campaign, finishing with the third-most raid points in Season 6 before being named the Best Debutant. The raider was prolific for U Mumba, scoring 12 Super 10s in 21 appearances for his side and was highly reliable in Do-Or-Die situations, scoring 41 raid points at a stellar strike rate of 89.13. No other player with over 25 raid points in Do-Or-Die situations achieved a strike rate of over 75. The raider also scored 10 Super Raids in what was one of the most memorable rookie seasons in recent history.

Centre - Pardeep Narwal

It was another year and another outstanding season for Patna Pirates’ Pardeep Narwal as the two-time MVP captured a record-equalling second Best Raider award of his career this campaign. The raider scored 233 points in Season 6 and led the league in Super 10s with 15. His 27-point performance against Puneri Paltan in Vizag was the best by any raider in a single Season 6 match. During the season, Narwal became the leading raid point scorer in VIVO Pro Kabaddi history and the first man to reach 850 raid points in the league.

Right Corner - Nitesh Kumar

U.P. Yoddha’s Nitesh Kumar set the record for most tackle points in a single campaign, finishing with 100 in Season 6 on the way to surpassing Surender Nada’s mark of 80 tackle points from the previous season. The Right Corner trailed Gujarat Fortunegiants’ Parvesh Bhainswal and U Mumba’s Fazel Atrachali for a good part of the season in a gripping race for the Best Defender Award but hit overdrive in his team’s final eight games of the campaign, scoring 38 tackle points at an outstanding average of 4.75 per game and a strike rate of 76 to take home the coveted award. His overall tackle strike rate 59.74 ranked among the best in the league for players with over 30 tackle points.

Left Corner - Fazel Atrachali

U Mumba captain Fazel Atrachali was a rock at the Left Corner position for his team throughout the campaign and finished the season with 83 tackle points to his name. Atrachali managed six High 5s, trailing only Nitesh Kumar in that category who scored eight, and also scored three Super Tackles over the course of a magnificent campaign. Atrachali’s average of 3.61 tackle points per game in Season 6 was bettered only by Nitesh Kumar’s average of four and his tackle strike rate of 63.84 also ranked second among all players with over 30 tackle points. It was a truly sensational season for the Iranian.

Left Cover - Parvesh Bhainswal

After a brilliant campaign in Season 5, Gujarat Fortunegiants’ Parvesh Bhainswal upped his game and emerged the best Cover defender in VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 6, scoring 86 tackle points and finishing second in the race for Best Defender. His partnership with captain Sunil Kumar yielded 162 tackle points in this campaign; the most in a single season by any Cover or Corner duo in VIVO Pro Kabaddi history. Bhainswal scored five High 5s, joint fourth-most in the league and four Super Tackles, joint-most for Gujarat Fortunegiants in Season 6. A consistent performer throughout the campaign, Bhainswal’s form was vital to Gujarat Fortunegiants’ excellent showing in Season 6.

Right Cover - Sunil Kumar

Gujarat Fortunegiants’ captain Sunil Kumar finished the season with 76 tackle points, equaling the record for most the tackle points by a Right Cover in a single season set by PO Surjeet Singh in Season 5. He led his team by example on the mat and his potent partnership with Bhainswal was one of the key factors for Gujarat Fortunegiants’ brilliant campaign. Apart from his tackling, Kumar also excelled in assisting his teammates’ tackles, finishing with 81 assists over the course of the season; the second-highest tally in the league. Still only 21, Kumar showed maturity beyond his years in leading Gujarat Fortunegiants to their second straight VIVO Pro Kabaddi final.