pro kabaddi, gujarat fortunegiants
Pro Kabaddi

The new and rather complicated format of the Pro Kabaddi League 2017 has left the teams unbalanced, truth be told. Although the organisers or players may say that the new style of the Pro Kabaddi League might not lead to viewer fatigue, the truth is the fatigue factor is indeed playing a key role this time around.

As a result, the teams playing on their home turf itself are paying the price. It does come as a surprise, but then a look at the fixtures structure gives you reasons why the home teams are coming under a lot of pressure.

We're into the third off day of the Pro Kabaddi season 5 and currently, the matches are being played in Ahmedabad. Newbies Gujarat Fortunegiants are the home team.

A total of 12 teams are plying their trade this time around and we have so far completed just two home legs of the tournament. Apart from the ongoing Ahmedabad leg, nine more home venues remain, until the knockouts phase.

Telugu Titans were the first to play the home matches this season in Hyderabad and they were followed by the Bengaluru Bulls, who played their matches in Nagpur this time around. There was utter mismanagement by the organisers to prepare the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bangalore in time for the competition.

A look at the home leg results so far (as on August 14):

  Telugu Titans Bengaluru Bulls Gujarat Fortunegiants
Match 1 Titans 32-27 Tamil Thalaivas Bulls 32-31 Tamil Thalaivas Guj 39-21 U Mumba
Match 2 Titans 29-35 Patna Pirates Bulls 27-32 UP Yoddha Guj 39-25 Dabang Delhi
Match 3 Titans 21-31 Bengaluru Bulls Bulls 32-46 Patna Pirates Guj 27-20 Jaipur Pink Panthers
Match 4 Titans 18-31 UP Yoddha Bulls 21-21 Telugu Titans Guj vs Bengaluru Bulls
Match 5 Titans 24-30 Bengal Warriors Bulls 31-25 Bengal Warriors Guj vs Telugu Titans
Match 6 Titans 36-43 Patna Pirates Bulls 24-29 Tamil Thalaivas Guj vs Bengal Warriors
TOTAL WINS 1 out of 6 2 out of 6 3 out of 3

The teams have to play six matches in a span of six days -- one game everyday -- in their home stretch and this indeed is building up the fatigue factor.

After Gujarat Fortunegiants' three wins on the trot at The Arena in Ahmedabad and a bright start to the season, coach Manpreet Singh sounded confident that with proper strategy and execution, the challenges of playing continuously at home can be overcome.

"The three matches we have played in the home leg, we have played very well. We have won all the three matches," said Manpreet. "We even played very well in the first two legs in Hyderabad and Nagpur. There, the home teams were not able to win three straight matches. We showed that it can be done, that successive matches can be won, if you plan well and come up with a good strategy," he added.

With the rest of the three matches at home commencing on Tuesday, August 15, it needs to be seen if the Gujarat Fortunegiants can indeed have a perfect record at home and make that big statement.