Tamil Thalaivas and Jaipur Pink Panthers play out a thrilling 34-34 tie
Jaipur Pink Panthers tied the Tamil Thalaivas 34-34 in the 72nd match of the Pro Kabaddi League at the Sheraton Grand Convention Centre in Bengaluru on Sunday. Tamil Thalaivas played out their 6th tie of the season. Ajinkya Pawar started for the Tamil Thalaivas as Athul MS was benched by the franchise.
The match was expected to be a contest between the raiding prowess of the Jaipur Pink Panthers and the defenders of the Tamil Thalaivas. The Pink Panthers raced away to a 2-point lead as Manjeet equalized the score the Thalaivas in the 5th minute of the match.
In the 17th minute of the match, the Tamil Thalaivas were leading by 6 points after inflicting the all-out on the inaugural champions. The Surjeet Singh-led side was led by raiders Manjeet and Ajinkya Pawar with 15 points by the duo in the first half of the match.
For the Jaipur Pink Panthers, Arjun Deshwal was the lone warrior with 7 raid points in the first half. The first half ended with 20-18 in the favour of the blue brigade.
The Thalaivas started off the second half with 4 points and extended the lead to 5 points over the Deepak Niwas Hooda-led franchise. Both the defensive units had fared poorly with just a solitary point for the Pink Panthers and the Tamil Thalaivas were better but had just 4 points till the 25th minute of the match.
The Pink Panthers recovered well to reduce the deficit to 24-22 and made sure that the Thalaivas remained within reach of them. Arjun Deshwal rode on the momentum and continued the domination of the Sagar and Surjeet combination. Jaipur came within a point of the Thalaivas as the score was 28-27.
The match was evenly poised and both the teams slowed down the pace of the match. The scores were tied as the Pink Panthers and Thalaivas had the raiding units to credit for the performance in the match.
Jaipur PInk Panthers will play their next match against the Bengal Warriors while the Tamil Thalaivas will lock horns with U Mumba.