Telugu Titans finishes home leg with nail-biting win over Puneri

HYDERABAD: A dramatic finish saw the Telugu Titans close out the Hyderabad leg with a well-deserved 34-33 win over defending champion Puneri Paltan at the GMCB Indoor Stadium on Saturday. In what was its fourth-straight win of season 11, the Telugu Titans was guided by its skipper Pawan Sehrawat’s 12 points, and Vijay Malik’s 13 points, which eventually took the home team to second on the points table.

A match which saw the raiders ruling the roost, Pankaj Mohite for the Puneri Paltan secured the first Super Raid of the game. Soon after, Mohit Goyat completed a Super Tackle as well, as the defending champion took an early lead. This form continued throughout the first 10 minutes, as Sanket Sawant’s tackle on Malik inflicted an ALL OUT on the home team.

Despite this, the Telugu Titans had Sehrawat in his usual raiding form, and he ensured that his team was in the game. The ace raider completed his Super 10 – his sixth of the season – with four minutes left in the second half. This helped his team take the lead and also inflict the ALL OUT on Puneri. A riveting first half saw the score level at 20-20 at the end.

As both sides exchanged the lead between themselves, they were cautious about their performance in the second half. For Puneri, Pankaj was its main aggressor yet again, but he was supported by the likes of fellow raider Mohit and defender Abinesh Nadarajan. However, Pawan’s magnificent moves kept the Titans afloat throughout the second 20 minutes of the match.

With the match entering a very important stage, the Titans, which had the lead, was inflicted with an ALL OUT with little over two minutes left to the end of the match. Malik was the second Titans player to score a Super 10, but at the end, defender Ajit Pawar got Ajith Kumar off the mat, to give the home side a one-point lead, which was enough to seal the victory.