PKL: Tamil Thalaivas pips U Mumba 38-35 in a thriller

Ajay Thakur scored a two-point raid in the dying seconds of the tie as the Tamil Thalaivas pipped U Mumba to a thrilling 38-35 win.

The Tamil Thalaivas’ defenders thwart an opposition raid during Tuesday’s tie against U Mumba.

Ajay Thakur produced a terrific raiding performance to inspire Tamil Thalaivas to a 38-35 win over U Mumba in a Pro Kabaddi League match here today.

Thakur also reached reached the 500 raid point milestone, over five seasons of the Pro Kabaddi League. He scored 15 raid points on the night and delivered every time his team was looking down and out.

U Mumba missed the experience of Anup Kumar and wilted under pressure. Darshan Kadian and Shrikanth combined to score 15 points for U Mumba but just fell short in the end.

Tamil Thalaivas now has 40 points from 20 matches and is fifth in the Zone B table, while U Mumba is fourth in Zone A with 56 points from 21 matches.

Ajay Thakur scored three raid points in three minutes as Tamil Thalaivas took a 5-1 lead after four minutes. Darshan Kadian made a super raid in the sixth minute as U Mumba trailed 6-7. U Mumba then scored five straight points to lead 10-7 in the 10th minute. Tamil Thalaivas misery was compounded further as it suffered an all out to trail 8-14 after 12 minutes.

Tamil Thalaivas defenders had a quiet first half as they could score just three tackle points. Thalaivas came back in the last five minutes of the first half to reduce the lead to just three points. U Mumba went into the half time break leading 18-15.

The second half saw U Mumba in control of the proceedings and led 25-19 after 27 minutes.

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For Tamil Thalaivas, Ajay Thakur kept scoring raid points but was not getting enough support. The side made a fight of it as they pegged down U Mumba a Ajay Thakur made a successful raid in the 31st minute.

Thalaivas inflicted an ‘All-Out’ in the 34th minute to trail 29-30. Shrikant Jadhav made a successful raid in the 36th minute as U Mumba took a three-point lead at 33-30.

Ajay Thakur scored with another raid as Thalaivas reduced the deficit to 32-33. The Thalaivas then came back to lead 35-33 in the 38th minute.

Mohan Raman scored with a two-point raid in the 40th minute as U Mumba levelled the match at 35-all. Thakur had the last word as he scored a two-point raid in the dying seconds to win the match for Tamil Thalaivas.