Haryana Steelers ended Gujarat Fortunegiants’ unbeaten run with a 32-20 win in the Pro Kabaddi league at Nagpur on Tuesday. Vikas Khandola was one of the stars for Gujarat. He led the way with some wonderful raids which included a moment of brilliance when he was caught by the rival defenders but managed to touch the line with his legs, reported PTI.

Gujarat fought back strongly after a moderate first half but the Steelers’ impressive play kept them ahead. They never allowed Gujarat any leeway and ran away to a convincing win. With seven minutes to go, Haryana led 18-11 and the best efforts of the Fortunegiants raider yielded nothing positive.

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Surjeet Singh set the ball rolling for the Steelers after Sukesh Hegde won the toss for Fortunesupergiants and opted for the left hand side of the court. Surjeet got two points for Haryana with his first raid as the men in blue looked to be front runners.

It took five minutes for the Gujarat franchise to get on the board as Vikas Khandola came up with an unsuccessful raid. Haryana, buoyed by the good work of Kandola, kept accumulating the points before the opponent managed to fight back. After 18 minutes of play, the two teams were level on points as Gujarat’s defence rose to the occasion.

Chaudhari’s late show

A brilliant late show from Rahul Chaudhari helped Telugu Titans tie with Bengaluru Bulls 21-21. The 24-year-old picked up three points in the last 40 seconds of the game, which looked destined to go in the way of the Bulls.

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Bulls had a narrow 9-8 lead at the end after what was a tightly contested first half. The ‘home’ side though, stole a march over their opponents after Titans were all-out and trailing 9-14 in the game. In 20 attempts, Chaudhari picked up eight points from 20 attempts while his opposite number Rohit Kumar had five from 19. Titans have endured a nightmarish few days, resulting in five losses.

After the game, Chaudhari was quoted as saying that his side can go deep into the tournament with a tighter defence, “We need to work more on our defense. As a raider one needs more motivation from their defenders. We will surely comeback,” he said.