Star of the Day: Sunil Kumar

Name: Sunil Kumar

Team: Gujarat Fortunegiants

Position: Defender

Gujarat Fortunegiants ensured they finished top of Zone A by beating Puneri Paltan 23-22 in a low-scoring thriller at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Friday. The match which was billed as the battle between the defences stuck to the script and dished out a tense climax that witnessed plenty of twists and turns.

As it turned out it was indeed a defender who stole the show and clinched the game with some crucial tackles. The surprising thing though is that it isn’t one of the usual suspects from either team and is youngster Sunil Kumar instead. The defensive right-cover completed a High 5, and in all picked up a joint game-high seven points.

What’s more is that he came up with the goods in a pressure situation when Gujarat’s back was against the wall as they trailed Pune in the dying moments of the game. All his six tackles ended in success, one of which was a super tackle.