Day 12 of the Pro Kabaddi League saw a couple of magnificent encounters. One of them was between Tamil Thalaivas and the home side Bengaluru Bulls in which the Thalaivas were thrashed by the Mahender Singh & Co.
The other game witnessed Gujarat Giants register their second victory of the season after beating UP Yoddhas in a high-scoring encounter.
Let’s take a glance at the Day 12 roundup review of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9:
Match 28: Gujarat Giants vs UP Yoddhas
Today was one of the few days where Pardeep Narwal became the showstopper, but his team suffered a defeat. ‘Dubki King’ Pardeep Narwal showed his remarkable skills in the first half by scoring a Super Raid against the Titans. The team was ahead on most occasions in the first half but made mistakes in their defence as well.
Chandran Ranjith, who was not having the best of days, finally became the star player of the night. He dominated the UP’s defense with his outstanding skills and also scored a Super 10 in the first 20 minutes only.
The first half culminated in a balanced state with the Yoddhas a bit ahead at 19-21. Despite some stellar raids, Pardeep Narwal did a few raids in haste that became the reason for the Giants’ comeback.
The second half started on a terrific note with Rakesh scoring a point in a fabulous way. His exceptional skills became one of the reasons for the Gujarat Giants’ winning this battle. Immediately after the point, UP Yoddhas were all-out with the Titans in the lead.
Skipper Chandran Ranjith, who was already ruling the encounter, grabbed a few more points for the side to give them a decent lead. The whole squad took great advantage of the lead and sent the whole team back once again to the bench in the next four minutes.
On the other hand, UP Yoddha’s defense did not play up to the expectations, including skipper Nitesh Kumar, who overall had 5 unsuccessful tackles. Star raider Pardeep Narwal also flopped in the second half, whereas Surinder Gill proved to be only positive for the team. The raider scored a Super 10 with less than seven minutes left in the game.
Sooner, Rakesh also scored a Super 10 for Gujarat Giants after some terrific performances from Ranjith. His confidence was at another level as he scored 14 touch points out of an overall 16.
Several all-outs did not let the Yoddhas back into the game, and Gujarat finally showed their magnificent performance in the ongoing edition. The game ended with a scoreline of 51-45.
Match 29: Bengaluru Bulls vs Tamil Thalaivas
The southern derby of the day was a one-sided affair, with the home side thrashing the Tamil Thalaivas by 45-28. The game began with a couple of stunning raids from the Bulls that kept their momentum throughout. On the other hand, the Tamil Thalaivas found it difficult to score in front of the defense, including Mahender Singh, Saurabh Nandal, and Aman.
Vikash Khandola, who was bought by the Bulls in place of Pawan Sehrawat, scored a couple of raid points for his team but couldn’t find his rhythm till the end. The defense of the Bulls was excellent as they did not allow any Thalaivian to score points easily.
Narender and Himanshu, who were the only ones scoring for the Thalaivas, couldn’t give their team a lead in the first half. The Bulls were ahead by 18-12, thanks to their strong defense.
The defense continued their exceptional game in the second half, too, as Saurabh Nandal’s remarkable dash sent Narender back to the bench. Some credit should go to the Bulls’ luck as well because Tamil Thalaivas players were self-out thrice. The Men in Yellow were soon all-out and were just unable to make a comeback thereafter.
The Bulls took advantage of their poor raiding and tackled almost every raider after that. The streak was unstoppable till the end, as the game ended with a 45-28, giving the Bengaluru Bulls a victory with a huge margin of 17 points.
This was Tamil Thalaivas’ third loss of the season and they are sitting in the tenth position, whereas the home side gave themselves a jump by reaching the third spot on the table.
The only positive from the Tamil Thalaivas was Narender’s Super 10. But, the Men in Red showed a combined performance with everyone contributing to the victory. Bengaluru’s next battle will be against U Mumba on Saturday while Tamil Thalaivas will take on UP Yoddhas on Sunday.