Tamil Thalaivas pulled off a thrilling 35-34 victory over Puneri Paltan in an enthralling game in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, here on Sunday, maintaining their unbeaten run and continuing their march up the table.
In the process, the Thalaivas also broke the Paltan's five-match unbeaten streak and extended their own. Paltan's Aslam Inamdar (15 points) and Thalaivas' Narender (13 points) were the top raiders for the day.
An incredible first half saw the two teams play at a relentless pace, almost every other raid resulting in a point. Pune's Aslam Inamdar and Thalaivas' Narender traded blows almost constantly, exacting point for point. While the partisan crowd screamed for their legendary captain Fazel Atrachali to get to the hallowed 400 tackle points mark, in reality, the Iranian was cautious. The Thalaivas went into the break leading by 16-15.
The Thalaivas stormed out of the blocks in the second half, inflicting the first All Out of the game. Narender's Super Raid caught out Atrachali, Abinesh Nadarajan, Sombir and Pankaj Mohite to extend their lead to 24-16.
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From thereon, the game turned into a tactical battle, Paltan getting the touchpoints to chip away at that lead, but Thalaivas doing everything to ensure they didn't lose it entirely.
At a crucial juncture, with three men on the mat, a pair of Super Tackles -- the first by Himanshu on Inamdar and the other by Sagar on Mohit Goyat -- salvaged a certain all out for the Thalaivas.
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With five minutes on the clock, Paltan rallied to inflict their first All Out of the game and closed the lead to four at 30-34. A close game became tense and unpredictable, with both teams wary of making even the most marginal of mistakes to forsake the lead.
In the end, on the last raid of the evening, an erroneous calculation by the Paltan bench meant the Thalaivas leading by one point, snuck home, silencing the crowd and keeping their streak alive.
