In an absolutely riveting encounter it was Telugu Titans who held their nerve under pressure to beat Haryana Steelers 35-31. Nilesh Salunke’s last minute super raid gave Titans a much-needed victory. Salunke ended up with 7 points but it was Rahul Chaudhari who top scored for Titans with 12 points. Titans’ defence laid the foundations for their win as they forced as many as six super tackles. Monu Goyat rallied Haryana Steelers remarkably in the second half and earned 12 points but they just fell short.
Nilesh Salunke and Rahul Chaudhari got a raid point each to give Telugu Titans 3-1 lead after two minutes. Haryana Steelers scored three straight points to lead 4-3 after four minutes. Monu Goyat scored his second point of the match to give Haryana Steelers 7-5 lead in the sixth minute.
Telugu Titans forced two super tackles in two minutes to lead 11-8 after 10 minutes. The super tackles galvanized Haryana as they scored seven straight points to lead 14-8. Things got better for Telugu Titans as they inflicted an all out in the 15th minute to lead 18-9. At the end of the first half Telugu Titans led 20-13.
The second half started brightly for Haryana Steelers as Monu Goyat scored three points in two minutes to reduce the deficit to 4 points. On two occasions, Haryana Steelers came close to inflicting an all out but Telugu Titans’ resolute defence denied them. Two more super tackles followed for the Titans as they led 29-21 after 25 minutes.
With less than five minutes to go Haryana gave themselves a glimmer of hope as they inflicted an all out to trail 25-29. Two more raid points for Monu Goyat meant that Steelers were trailing by just one point after 37 minutes.
Steelers sent Rahul Chaudhari back to the bench but he picked up a bonus as the scores were level at 30-30. Vishal Bhardwaj forced a super tackle in the 40th minute to earn two more points for Titans. Nilesh Salunke made a super raid in the dying seconds of the match to lead Titans to 35-31 win.
Thalaivas beaten again
Jaipur Pink Panthers came up with an accomplished performance to beat Tamil Thalaivas 37-24 in the Inter Zone Challenge Week of Pro Kabaddi Season 6. Deepak Hooda (9 points) was the architect of their victory and was ably supported by Anand Patil (5 points) and Ajinkya Pawar (4 points). Sunil Siddhgavali got a high five in defence for Jaipur Pink Panthers. Tamil Thalaivas started off brightly but faded away as their two key men Ajay Thakur and Manjeet Chhillar had a disappointing game. The victory keeps Jaipur Pink Panthers in the hunt for a place in the playoffs.
First Published: Dec 09, 2018 22:40 IST
Source: HindustanTimes