Pro Kabaddi League

The match started with Manjeet getting an ankle hold on the dangerous Bharat and earning Haryana Steelers a point. But Manjeet was himself caught by Bulls captain Mahender Singh as his team levelled the scoreline. Moments later, Neeraj Narwal earned a SUPER RAID and then Aman took down Nitin Rawal to inflict an ALL OUT on Steelers.

Bengal Captain Maninder Singh was in a position to hand his team a victory when he went in for a Do or Die raid in the dying seconds of the match, but the Yoddhas tackled him and tied the game at 41-41 at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, here on Tuesday.

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.

As the clock ticked on, UP turned up the style too, with the defence overpowering the Steelers' raiders. Surender Gill and Co. inflicted an All Out on the Steelers, as the lead swelled to 9 points soon after. The dominant UP Yoddhas ended the first half firmly in control with the score reading 25-15 and Surender having notched up a Super 10 as well.

Sachin contributed with a total of 12 points in his team's win at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex. Raider Sachin led the charge as the Pirates took the lead at 3-1 in the 6th minute. However, Ashish stepped up his game and helped his team level the scores at 3-3. Thereafter, Jai Bhagwan pulled off a stupendous SUPER RAID in the 9th minute to help U Mumba inch ahead at 7-4.

Both sides played out a neck-and-neck contest in the first few minutes of the match and were locked at 5-5. While Surender Gill picked up raid points for the U.P. Yoddhas, raider Akash Shinde led the charge for the Puneri Paltan. However, Shinde picked up successive raid points and defenders Mohammad Nabibakhsh and Fazel Atrachali backed him up to help the Pune side inch ahead at 9-6 in the 11th minute.

Arjun Deshwal ran rampant and was instrumental in inflicting the first All Out of the game, with a Super Raid that caught out Ashu Malik, Ravi Kumar, and Manjeet. At the other end of the mat, the Pink Panthers' defence also held strong and ensured Naveen Kumar didn't get too many freebies on his raids.

The Warriors came out a different unit in the second half. Maninder and Deepak Niwas Hooda rallied their side to initiate their own ALL OUT to reduce the margin of the lead. While the Thalaivas defence faltered, the Warriors kept chipping away, their raiders suddenly the ones in the ascendancy.

The Paltans made an explosive start with Mohit Goyat starting off with a Super Raid. A close review by the Paltans also worked out in their favour, as they had the momentum in their corner, playing at home for the first time this season. Midway through the first half, the Paltans were in control and had a slender 1-point lead, with both sides being watchful in their approach. Cheered on by the home support, the Paltans raged on as Fazel Atrachali and co tackled emphatically, giving themselves a 3-point lead at 13-10 in the end of the first half.

A slow start to the game saw both teams trade raid points constantly. The bane of the Titans' horrible run in the league has been their defence, and in the opening stages of this encounter it didn't seem like they had improved. Surender Gill and Pardeep Narwal were running riot through their ranks as they pleased, able to pick up bonus points with ease.