Thalaivas makes comeback to play out tie against Pirates

CHENNAI: The losing streak of Tamil Thalaivas, which lasted two matches, came to an end on Wednesday as the Sagar Rathee-led team played out a thrilling 33-33 tie against Patna Pirates in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 in Pune.

At the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Thalaivas, which was behind by five points (25-30) with about five minutes remaining, made a comeback with its first and only ‘All Out’ in the 37th minute to level the score at 30-30. Both teams traded blows in the last few minutes and eventually settled for three points each from the match.

Following the result, the Tamil Nadu team has 38 points from 14 matches while Patna has 41 points off 14 games. Narender (16 points – 15 raid points and 1 tackle point) and Ajinkya Pawar (7 raid points) top scored for Thalaivas while Sachin (14 points – 13 raid points and 1 tackle point) and Rohit Gulia (9 raid points) were the chief contributors for Pirates.

The early stages of the match was closely contested as TT held a tiny one-point (8-7) lead in the eighth minute. Pawar then picked up a point each in three successive raids as the scorecard read 12-11 in favour of Thalaivas. However, Pirates turned things around as it inflicted an ‘All Out’ in the last minute of the first half to lead 20-14 at the break.

Although the Tamil Nadu team looked the better of the two at the beginning of the second period, three-time champion Patna maintained a decent lead. Thalaivas reduced the deficit to three points, but Sachin came up with a two-point raid to widen the gap to five points.

In the 34th minute, Pirates produced a fantastic ‘Super Tackle’ on Narender to delay the ‘All Out’. But, since the clean sweep happened a few minutes later, Patna had to be content with a tie. Thalaivas head coach Ashan Kumar and Co. will take heart from the team’s comeback, especially after crumbling in the final minutes of the last two matches.

In the last match of the Pune leg, UP Yoddhas recorded a thumping 50-31 victory over defending champion Dabang Delhi, thanks to skipper Pardeep Narwal (22 raid points). The Hyderabad leg will begin on Friday with a triple-header.

RESULTS: Patna Pirates 33 tied with Tamil Thalaivas 33; Dabang Delhi 31 lost to UP Yoddhas 50