The Pro Kabaddi League has come a long, long way since it began with eight teams in 2014. Now in season 10, twelve teams from across the length and breadth of the country play in what has blossomed into India's second-most watched sporting league.
On PKL's 1000th match on Monday, we take a look back at the last 10 years and pick out the best of the best on a few chosen parameters.
Best Raid: Pardeep Narwal's raid that wiped out a six-man defence
It began like any other raid, but ended like no other raid.
Pardeep darted from the left to the right, faked a dubki to sidestep the defensive chain of Surender Nada and Vikash Kandola. Then, in one swift motion, he swatted away an attempted ankle and back hold before using his left leg to propel him past the two remaining defenders to clean up the Haryana Steelers side of the mat.
Such is the fanbase for this raid that even today if you search for 'Pardeep Narwal' on YouTube, one of the top results is 'Pardeep Narwal 8 point raid'.
Watch: Pardeep Narwal's eight point raid
Mr. Flamboyant
Rahul Chaudhari. He has the charisma, the personality and the swagger of a movie star. His charming looks and clinical raiding earned him a humongous fan base, bigger than many of his contemporaries. And he was always flamboyant, he bought the best cars, wore the latest trends and even acted as a jilted lover in a music video.
Best performance by a raider: Pawan Sehrawat unbelievable 39
It's common for teams to score 39 points in a match. But for an individual to score that many? Surely, you've got to be joking.
Enter Pawan Sehrawat.
Bengaluru Bulls were trailing 6-12 to the Haryana Steelers [why are the Steelers always at the receiving end of these incredible performances?] and Pawan produced a raid that would earn him the moniker Hi-Flyer. He leapt about seven feet in the air to beat two defenders...and there was just no stopping him thereon.
He picked up points for fun, sometimes in collections of three. It was only fitting that when Pawan got to his 39th point, the previous owner of the record for most points in a game, Pardeep, cheered him on from the stands.
Best performance by a defender: Shadloui's magical 19
The Iranian showman produced not one, not two, but eight Super Tackles! And it was an exhibition of every defensive move he had: ankle hold, front block, double thigh hold, the dash, he did it all.
And it wasn't against any other team but the reigning champions, Dabang Delhi. Shadloui made Naveen Kumar, one of PKL's best raiders, look like a novice as he picked his ankles time and again. After tackling Naveen, he went on to do a backward somersault and launched himself back on his feet. After a tackle on another player, he looked down at him flat on the mat, smiled and slapped his thigh with his index finger raised to the sky. It was almost like he was mocking them. The bleach-blonde-haired Iranian loved every moment of it and went on to execute three brilliant raids as well.
Best Move: Dubki
The most popular move on the kabaddi mat today - the dubki. Shabeer Bapu, One of the OGs, had introduced the League to the move and it was perfected and made notoriously popular by none other than Pardeep Narwal, the Dubki King.
What is the dubki? It's a move that commands rubber-band-like elasticity as the raider ducks below a chain of defenders and then launches himself back to his feet.
Best Nickname
So each of the top players in the PKL is given a nickname, which then becomes commonplace in commentary. Here's a sample: Pardeep Narwal is called the Dubki King, Siddharth Desai earned the moniker Baahubali for his ripped physique and Ajay Thakur was nicknamed the Ice Man for his calm demeanour.
But the best among the lot, and one that will be remembered for time immemorial is Anup Kumar's nickname -- Bonus ka Badshah, translating to the King of the Bonus. Anup was the best exhibitionist of the getting a bonus point -- where the raider has to cross the bonus line with his front foot and his trailing leg has to be air-borne.
Best Foreigner
Fazel Atrachali, without a shred of doubt. He is PKL's most successful captain, has the most tackle points, is a two-time champion and is the best overseas player PKL has seen. I mean, just take a look at his track record:
Season 2: Made his PKL debut, won the title with U Mumba.
Season 4: Moved to defending champions Patna, won his second title in three seasons.
Season 5: Made a switch to Gujarat Giants [ex Gujarat FortuneGiants] and led them to a runners-up finish in their debut season.
Season 6: Returned to U Mumba, became PKL's most expensive overseas player and finished as the third-best defender with 83 tackle points.
Season 7: Was the season's best defender.
Season 9: Joined Puneri Paltan, led them to their first final.
Season 10: Became PKL's most successful captain and became the first defender to cross 450 tackle points.
Mr. Muscle
You would be forgiven if you saw Maninder Singh for the first time and mistook him for a professional bodybuilder. The man's an absolute tank. He's got boulders for shoulders, logs for quadriceps and is so strong that he sometimes lifts opposition defenders over the midline and into his side of the court. That also explains why he's known as Mighty Mani.
Iconic rule introduction
The Do or Die raid, the one rule that ensured kabaddi games would not be a snoozefest. You see, until this rule was introduced, raiders would go on numerous empty raids and that made for boring viewing. But once this rule came into place, it mandates a raider to score a point after two consecutive empty raids and if he fails to do so, he is eliminated and the opposition is awarded a point.
Best Dialogue
Haryana Steelers coach Manpreet Singh, a former player with three-time champions Patna Pirates, is one of the most outspoken coaches in the PKL. His press conferences are cheeky, sarcastic and filled with idioms and phrases. During PKL9, he was asked if he would re-work his team for the games to come, he quipped: "Will you replace Virat Kohli? He came in and won the game at the end [in the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup game against Pakistan]. India or Pakistan could have lost that game. Our matches have gone similarly and I don't intend to change the team."