PKL: THALAIVAS, TITANS PLAY OUT THRILLING TIE
Telugu Titans made an incredible comeback in the dying moments of the match to play out a thrilling 40-40 tie against Tamil Thalaivas on the opening day of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 at the Sheraton Grand Hotel, here on Wednesday.
Thalaivas had the contest in its kitty with a ninepoint advantage, but let Titans share the spoils. Manjeet (12 points) was the star of the day for Thalaivas with a ‘Super 10’ while Siddharth Desai (11 points) impressed in his team’s opener despite spending a lot of time away from the mat.
It was Titans which shone in the early stages as raiders Siddharth and Rajnish clinched important points. Meanwhile, corner defender Sandeep Kandola was at the heart of everything positive that Titans did with its defence, which helped the team clinch an ‘All Out’ in the eighth minute and open up a seven-point lead. But, the much-changed Thalaivas was in no mood to let Titans run away with the lead. Solid tackling and sensible raiding helped it stay in a striking distance.
A 3-point ‘Super Raid’ by Manjeet with 4 minutes remaining to half-time gave Thalaivas an opportunity to inflict an ‘All Out’ and it did so in the 18th minute to make the scores level at 20-20.
The momentum helped the Tamil Nadu team end the half with a 2-point cushion (23-21), as Titans lacked a leader in attack in the absence of Rohit Kumar, who was ruled out with injury. The second half saw both sides matching each other.
Manjeet and Prapanjan impressed with their raids, with the former getting his ‘Super 10’ with 10 minutes left. Riding on the raiding duo’s efforts, Thalaivas bagged its second ‘All Out’ to ensure a five-point lead. It seemed Surjeet Singh and Sahil Singh’s defensive work would see Thalaivas through, but Siddharth stepped up his game to inflict an ‘All Out’. Titans eventually produced a successful tackle on Manjeet – in what was a ‘Do-or-Die Raid’ – in the last move of the match.
RESULTS: Tamil Thalaivas 40 tied with Telugu Titans 40; U Mumba 46 bt Bengaluru Bulls 30