Ankush vs Mohammedreza Chiyaneh: Who was the most prolific defender in PKL season 9

Both defenders set many records throughout the season.

Ankush Rathee from Jaipur Pink Panthers and Mohammedreza Chiyaneh from Patna Pirates finished as the top two defenders in Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9 with 89 and 84 tackle points respectively. Season 9 was Ankush’s debut season and he made a mark by becoming the league’s top defender ahead of experienced Sunil Kumar and Sahul Kumar. Chiyaneh the Iranian on the other hand was the top defender in season 8 and continued his stellar form for the second successive season. 

Before comparing the stats of the two players let us discuss the situations the two defenders were in throughout the season. Ankush had a clear edge in terms of support from other defenders (Sunil, Sahul, and Reza) while Chiyaneh was the lone warrior fighting from the left-corner position. Three defenders scored more than 50 plus tackle points for Jaipur Pink Panthers the only team to achieve the feat in season 9 on the other hand Chiyaneh was the only defender to score 50 plus tackle points.

Mohammedreza Chiyaneh was the best raider of season 8

The fourth best defender for Jaipur was Reza with 36 points while the second best defender from Patna is close to the 40 points mark. Chiyaneh score 16 tackle points with all the points coming from super tackle situations and also became the first defender to score 15 plus tackle points in a single match. Apart from defending the Iranian also had the intent to score raid points and scored a few points as well. 

	Ankush	Chiyaneh
Matches	24	20
Tackle Points	89	84
Total points	89	89
High 5s	9	6
Super Tackles	5	10
Successful tackles	84	74

Looking at the stats both players are on par with each other. Chiyaneh has played four fewer matches than Ankush but still was close to getting to the 89 points mark. If we look on a whole Ankush has a good number of average tackle points per match and has also scored the highest high 5s in the season. Ankush played well in pressure situations too scoring points in both semifinals and finals.