Pro Kabaddi League: Telgu Titans begin home leg with tie

Telugu Titans vs Jaipur Pink Panthers

MATCH SUMMARY

Telugu Titans began their home-leg of the PKL with a high-scoring 39-39 draw against the Jaipur Pink Panthers at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad. The three points from the draw strengthens the hosts’ hold on the second spot (29 points), while the defending champions remain in sixth spot with 16 points.

Face off

Deepak Hooda vs Jasvir Singh — In one of Jasvir Singh’s first few raids, Telegu Titans defender Deepak Hooda latched onto the Jaipur Pink Panthers skipper with a powerful ankle hold. Hooda repeated the move a few minutes later and it was equally effective. Jasvir decided to take time off from raiding after the second encounter with Hooda, only entering the Titans half later when the defender was absent from the court.

Play of the Day

Finding his path back to the midline blocked by Jaipur defenders Sonu Narwal and Ran Singh, Titans raider Sukesh Hegde dived under the pair, getting a touch on each of them on the way. Yet before he crossed the line, another Pink Panthers defender, Prashant Chavan tried to pull him back. In turn the raider got a touch on Chavan’s foot before making contact with the mat beyond the midline – all in one straight move. The feat gave him three points and the only ‘super raid’ of the match.

jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery('.rel-article').bxSlider({ maxSlides: 6, slideMargin: 3 }); });

Flop show

The final raid of the match would have won or lost the game for either team. With the scores tied, Pink Panthers skipper Jasvir Singh walked in to attack. Yet instead of looking for a touch that could have won the game, the raider simply walked around the Titans half, running down the 30-second clock. Falsely assuming his team had the lead, he got back into his own half, celebrating on the way, only for his teammates in the dugout to greet him with shocked expressions.

Fastest all-out of the season

Hosts Telugu Titans took just 6:47 minutes to inflict the first all-out of the match against the Jaipur Pink Panthers – the fastest of this season.

U Mumba vs Dabang Delhi

MATCH SUMMARY

U Mumba extended their winning run to eight games after beating Dabang Delhi 29-25 at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad. The victors stay atop the table with 40 points in their eight games, while the Delhi franchise stays in fifth place with 17 points.

Face off

Fazel Atrachali vs Rohit Kumar Choudary: In only his first ever start of the season, Iran captain and U Mumba defender managed to silence in form Dabang Delhi raider Rohit Kumar Choudary. The duel started with Atrachali locking in an ankle hold on the powerful raider, almost single-handedly stopping the raider in the move. Another Atrachali ankle hold towards the end of the first half on Choudary demoralised the raider to the extent that the attacker rarely went in for a raid subsequently and didn’t score a single point in the entire game.

Play of the Day

Dabang Delhi’s star raider Kashiling Adake got a touch on a U Mumba defender and turned to sprint back to his own half. The raider smartly dodged Rishank Devadiga, but the defender dived and got a strong hold on the attacker. Devadiga managed to hold onto Adake long enough for veteran teammate Jeeva Kumar to thrown in a sharp tackle as well, successfully pinning the raider.

Flop show

U Mumba defender Surender Nada thought of initiating a ‘pursuit’ raid even before Dabang Delhi attacker Rakesh Bharadwaj got back to his own half. Nada walked into the Delhi half even before Bharadwaj could join his teammates and in-turn gave his opponents a free point.

Low scorer

With eight consecutive wins, U Mumba have broken Jaipur Pink Panthers’ record seven-game streak from last season.