Haryana Steelers and Tamil Thalaivas played out a nail-biting 25-25 tie in the Pro Kabaddi League at Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Tamil Thalaivas looked to capitalise on their new-found form as they took on league’s most formidable side, reported PTI.
Prapanjan scored seven raid points for Thalaivas whereas Surender Nada scored seven points for Steelers. It was an evenly matched contest in the true sense as both teams scored equal raid and tackle points.
Surjeet Singh opened Haryana Steelers account with a successful raid in the first minute of the encounter. Prapanjan scored with a raid in the second minute as Tamil Thalaivas trailed 1-2. A couple of empty raids followed as Wazir Singh made it 4-2 for Steelers in the third minute.
Tamil Thalaivas scored three points in succession to lead 5-4 after five minutes. Haryana Steelers responded in equal measure to lead 7-5 in the eighth minute. Ajay Thakur had a quiet first half for Tamil Thalaivas as they trailed 7-9. Both teams’ defence was looking good in the first half as the bulk of the points came from tackles.
Tamil Thalaivas levelled the match at 10-10 in the 18th minute as Dong Geon Lee made a successful raid. Surender Nada had a splendid first half for Steelers and scored six points. Haryana Steelers ended the first half leading 13-10.
Tamil Thalaivas started the second half brightly and inflicted the first all out of the match in the 24th minute to lead 17-14. Vikas Kandola made a successful raid for Haryana Steelers to reduce the gap to two points. Prapanjan scored with a two- point raid in the 26th minus as Thalaivas led 19-16.
With less than 10 minutes to go, Haryana Steelers tried to mount a comeback and trailed 19-20 in the 32nd minute. Prapanjan scored his seventh raid point of the match as Thalaivas led 21-19 after 33 minutes.
It was neck and neck as Tamil Thalaivas led 22-21 in the 35th minute. Vikas Kandola levelled the game at 22-22 with less than five minutes to go. Haryana Steelers led in the match for the first time after first half as they made it 23-22 in 37th minute.
Thalaivas came back to lead 24-23 in the 38th minute. Ashish Chhokar made it 25-24 for Haryana Steelers with a raid in the penultimate minute. Dong Geon Lee levelled the match at 25-25 with a raid for Thalaivas.
No stopping rampant Fortunegiants
Gujarat Fortunegiants registered their fifth consecutive win of their home leg with yet another comprehensive win. Telugu Titans were the latest to suffer the wrath of the Fortunegiants’ all-round display on the court as their miserable season stretched on with a 18-29 loss.
The in-form Sachin starred the show for his side, picking up 10 points. The Titans had an encouraging start to the raid but it was one-way traffic as soon as the Fortunegiants found their footing in the contest. The Titans’ raiders suffered while going up against defenders Fazel Atrachali and Abozar Mighani, and went 11 points behind the intra-zone pace-setters well before the half-way mark.
Fortunegiants ended the first half with a commanding 20-7 lead. Titans’ talisman Rahul Chaudhari led a mini-resurgence along with Vinoth Kumar, but were unable to mount a challenge to their formidable opponents. With the win, the Gujarat-based side further stretched their lead, picking up 36 points from eight games in Zone A.
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