V Ajith Kumar achieves the Super 10 in a thrilling 30-30 tie between U Mumba and Tamil Thalaivas

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V Ajith Kumar escapes an ankle hold in U Mumba’s match against Tamil Thalaivas

Tamil Thalaivas‘ search for their first win in PKL Season 8 continued as they played out a 30-30 tie against U Mumba on Monday. V Ajith Kumar bagged half the points for U Mumba, however, his efforts couldn’t guarantee a victory for his side. 

Tamil Thalaivas took the lead early in the game after Surjeet Singh deployed a gripping double-thigh hold on Abhishek Singh. The raiders continued piling points from the other end while the defense slowly and steadily took out the U Mumba players with chain tackles.

With only three defenders left, it seemed as if U Mumba got their Super Tackle correctly but Rahul Sethpal pulled Manjeet’s jersey while trying to guide him out of the lobby. Thalaivas ultimately enforced the first All Out of the game after bodies piled on Ajinkya Kapre with the scoreline reading 10-2 in their favor.

Thalaivas extended the lead to 10 points momentarily but U Mumba crawled back into the game courtesy of Abhishek Singh and V Ajith Kumar’s raids. The latter stole the limelight in the first half after leaping over Surjeet Singh’s double thigh hold and touching four defenders in the process before crossing the line with his palm, resulting in U Mumba inflicting their first All Out to narrow the gap to two points.

Manjeet won a bonus point for Thalaivas before the ends changed as the half-time scoreline read 17-14 in their favor. U Mumba had just one tackle point to show for their efforts in the first half as the burden fell on the shoulders of their raiders.

Tamil Thalaivas captain Surjeet Singh initiates a double thigh hold against a U Mumba raider

Tamil Thalaivas captain Surjeet Singh initiates a double thigh hold against a U Mumba raider

At 19-14, Thalaivas sent Bhavani Rajput to the Do-or-Die Raid and he waited patiently before escaping from an ankle hold and ousted U Mumba captain Fazel Atrachali as well. However, V Ajith Kumar completed his Super 10 and revived his skipper after getting wily touches and escaping from the clutches of the opposing defenders to narrow down the gap to 26-24.

V Ajith Kumar finally inflicted the second All Out for U Mumba as he took out lone man Surjeet Singh and reversed the lead in their favor to 27-26. With only two minutes left on the clock and the score reading 30-28, Ajith tried to play smartly by staying the entire 30 seconds in the opposition half after crossing the balkline.

However, his plan backfired after Surjeet bagged a touchpoint for Thalaivas but made an unsuccessful review in attempting to win the bonus point. After two empty raids, V Ajith Kumar made his buzzer raid a Do-or-Die one, and substitute Mohit initiated a chain tackle to level the proceedings at 30-30.

This was Thalaivas’ second tie in PKL Season 8 and they need victories urgently to get their campaign back on track. They currently languish in the ninth spot with 6 points from 3 matches and the Surjeet Singh-led side will lock horns with Puneri Paltan on Friday.

On the other hand, U Mumba occupies the fifth position in the points table with one win, a draw, and a loss to their name. Fazel Atrachali would like to revitalize his teammates when they take on third-placed Jaipur Pink Panthers on Saturday.

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