Seventh season of Pro Kabaddi came to a close on Saturday with Bengal Warriors being crowned deserving champions after consistent performances through the season and a convincing all-round display on the big night that mattered.

Dabang Delhi KC might have finished on top of the table after the league phase but Warriors were the only side that the team from the capital city had not defeated, and in the final, that run continued.

Iran’s Mohammad Nabibakhsh was the star on the night for the side from Kolkata, standing in as the captain for the side in the absence of Maninder Singh (shoulder injury) and he led from the front in spectacular fashion.

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Both team had to made it to the finals for the first time in their franchise history but it was Warriors who ended up lifting their first title.

Here’s a look back at the season’s top performers and the leaderboard for various important metrics as another compelling edition of the league came to an end:

Award winners

  • Naveen Kumar, Most Valuable Player (Dabang Delhi KC): The record for most consecutive Super 10s (10 raid points in a match) before this season was eight matches, held by Pardeep Narwal. The record for most Super 10s in a season before this season began was 18, also held by Narwal. And a 20-year-old from Delhi shattered both those records in some style. Naveen Kumar set a new record of TWENTY ONE consecutive matches with a Super 10, a landmark that is going to be incredibly tough to break for as long as the league exists. He also registered a Super 10 in 22 out of the 23 matches he played, displaying unprecedented consistency. No wonder he won the MVP award after 18 points in the final for Delhi albeit in a losing cause.
  • Pawan Sehrawat, Raider of the season (Bengaluru Bulls): He may not have been able to help the defending champions retain their crown, but, with 346 raid points to his name, Sehrawat emerged as the best raider of the season. After his MVP award in 2018, 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. Sehrawat also broke Pardeep Narwal’s record of the highest individual score in a single match by scoring 39 raid points against Haryana Steelers.
  • Fazal Atrachali (Iran), Defender of the season (U Mumba): Mumbai’s inspirational Iranian skipper Fazel Atrachali ended the season as the highest tackle point scorer and was awarded the best defender award. This was Atrachali’s second campaign (after season four) 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.
  • Sumit, Best new young player of the season (UP Yoddha): Sumit was the second-best defender behind Atrachali in his first-ever Pro Kabaddi campaign. 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. (Read more about his combination with UP captain and childhood friend here.)

Best raiders

Top 5 raiders of 2019

Player Team Matches played Raid points (Total points)
Pawan Kumar Sehrawat Bengaluru Bulls 24 346 (360)
Pardeep Narwal Patna Pirates 22 302 (304)
Naveen Kumar Dabang Delhi KC 23 301 (303)
Siddharth Desai Telugu Titans 22 217 (220)
Maninder Singh Bengal Warriors 20 205 (205)

Most Super 10s of 2019

Player Team Matches played Super 10s
Naveen Kumar Dabang Delhi KC 23 22
Pawan Kumar Sehrawat Bengaluru Bulls 24 18
Pardeep Narwal Patna Pirates 22 15
Vikash Kandola Haryana Steelers 20 11
(Super 10 = 10 raid points in a match)

Most Do-or-die Raid Points in 2019

Player Team Matches played Do-or-die raid points
Vikash Kandola Haryana Steelers 20 42
Pardeep Narwal Patna Pirates 22 41
Abhishek Singh U Mumba 21 37
Naveen Kumar Dabang Delhi 23 36
Shrikant Jadhav UP Yoddha 22 28

Best defenders

Top 5 defenders of 2019

Player Team Matches played Tackle points
Fazel Atrachali U Mumba 24 82
Sumit UP Yoddha 22 77
Nitesh Kumar UP Yoddha 23 75
Sandeep Kumar Dhull Jaipur Pink Panthers 22 73
Baldev Singh Bengal Warriors 24 66

Most High 5s of 2019

Player Team Matches played High 5s
PO Surjeet Singh Puneri Paltan 21 7
Sumit  UP Yoddha 22 7
Nitesh Kumar UP Yoddha 23 6
Baldev Singh Bengal Warriors 24 6
(High 5 = five tackle points in a match)

Team metrics

Most points scored by a team in 2019

Team Matches played Total points
Dabang Delhi KC 24 890
Bengal Warriors 24 868
Bengaluru Warriors 24 868

Most raid points in 2019

Team Matches played Raid points
Bengaluru Bulls 24 533
Dabang Delhi KC 24 532
Bengal Warriors 24 513

Most points conceded in 2019

Team Matches played Points conceded
Bengaluru Bulls 24 855
Dabang Delhi KC 24 823
Puneri Paltan 22 816

Most all-outs inflicted in 2019

Team Matches played All-outs inflicted
Bengal Warriors 24 41
Dabang Delhi KC 24 40
Patna Pirates 22 34

Most all-outs conceded in 2019

Team Matches played All outs conceded
Puneri Paltan 22 37
Telugu Titans 22 33
Bengaluru Bulls 24 33