Pawan, Fazel and Sumit bag awards in Season 7 presentation

The seventh season of vivo Pro Kabaddi saw some astounding performances from both, raiders and defenders, as the tough battles made it one of the most competitive seasons yet. While a number of raiders and defenders shone through for their teams, three players in particular rose above the rest and were awarded for their valiant efforts throughout the season.

Pawan Kumar Sehrawat from Bengaluru Bulls may not have been able to help the defending champions retain their crown, but, with 346 raid points to his name, he emerged as the best raider of the season. U Mumba skipper Fazel Atrachali ended the season as the highest tackle point scorer and was awarded the best defender award. The New Young Player of the season went to U.P. Yoddha’s Sumit, who was the second-best defender behind Atrachali in his first-ever vivo Pro Kabaddi campaign.

Best Raider of Season 7: Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (Bengaluru Bulls)

Season 6’s Most Valuable Player Pawan Kumar Sehrawat was once again the highest scoring raider of the season and finished his campaign with 346 raid points, making him the second player in the league’s history to score 300 raid points in a single season. On the way, Sehrawat also broke Pardeep Narwal’s record of the highest individual score in a single match by scoring 39 raid points against Haryana Steelers in Match 118. Sehrawat kept to his reputation of scoring big and had 262 successful raids, 13 Super Raids and 18 Super 10s in the season. Sehrawat’s average of 14.41 raid points per game and successful raid percentage of 75.05 were both the highest among any of the top raiders in the season. In the end, he remained 23 points shy of Pardeep’s record of the most points in a single season, but that didn’t take away from what was another remarkable season for the ‘Hi-Flyer’.

Best Defender of Season 7: Fazel Atrachali (U Mumba)

‘Sultan’ Fazel Atrachali led his troops from the front throughout the season and emerged as the highest tackle point scoring defender in the season. This was Atrachali’s second campaign after Season 4 where he emerged as the best defender of the season, making him the only player after Manjeet Chhillar to achieve that feat. Atrachali had 5 Super Tackles and four High 5s to show for his efforts in the season and scored 82 tackle points at an average of 3.2; falling just one tackle point short of his best-ever showing in a single season which came in Season 6.

Best New Young Player of Season 7: Sumit (U.P. Yoddha)

Sumit was the find of the season for U.P. Yoddha and provided his skipper Nitesh Kumar ample support in the opposite corner. He finished the season as the second most successful defender with 77 tackle points to his name. He also had the joint-most number of High 5s in the season at seven and the second-most number of successful tackles at 75. Sumit’s tremendous success in his debut campaign saw U.P. Yoddha make their third-straight playoffs appearance before being knocked out by Bengaluru Bulls in Eliminator 1.