Pro Kabaddi wrap: Three matches, three ties to start the new year

Dabang Delhi KC remained unbeaten in the league but had to dig deep and scrape through to a tie against Tamil Thalaivas as three closely fought matches on the first day of the new year did not witness an outright winner.

A last-second tackle by Pawan Sehrawat helped Bengaluru Bulls pull off an unlikely 34-34 tie against Telugu Titans in match 26 of Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 at The Sheraton Grand Whitefield, Bengaluru. The Titans dominated the match with two ALL-OUTs but their inability to safeguard a lead in the final stages cost them a win.

Bengaluru Bulls had a poor day on the mat with Pawan Sehrawat spending more than 20 minutes in
the dugout but the captain initiated the most important tackle of the match in the final second.
Titans, despite the morale-depleting tie, will take positives in the performance of their young raider
Ankit Beniwal who finished with a Super 10.

Earlier, U Mumba and U.P Yoddha played out a tightly-fought 28-28 tie in match 25. Both sets of defenders, especially Yoddha’s Sumit (6 tackle points), made life difficult for the raiders as big names Pardeep Narwal and Abhishek Singh failed to make an impact. Mumbai had a one-point lead going into the final minute but a mistake by their captain Fazel Atrachali handed Yoddha an opportunity to tie the match.

The spotlights before the match were on U Mumba captain Fazel Atrachali and his nemesis Pardeep
Narwal of Yoddha. The Mumbai left corner had scored the most tackle points (15) against vivo PKL’s
all-time highest points scorer Pardeep Narwal. But it was Mumbai’s right corner Rinku who started
brilliantly in the defence tackling Pardeep Narwal successfully in his first attempt. In fact, Rinku
picked up 4 tackle points in a see-sawing first half dominated by the defenders.

At the other end, Sumit decimated all the Mumbai raiders who came looking for points in his left
corner. With Nitesh Kumar joining in the act, it was like UP Yoddha duo had rediscovered the form
that made them successful in Season 7. Abhishek Singh had a poor first half and was often caught
static on the left side of Yoddha. But whenever UP Yoddha sniffed an ALL OUT, U Mumba produced some magic to stay in the match.

In the final match of the day, Naveen Kumar continued his brilliant streak of Super 10s, finishing the match with 15 points. But Thalaivas did well too keep him out of the mat in the decisive moments. It needed a gritty, bruising last-gasp raid from Sandeep Narwal for Delhi to earn the tie at 30-30. It was the third tie featuring Thalaivas this season.

Delhi remained on top of the table, but the likes of Bulls and UMumba remain in touching distance.