PKL 2019: Tamil Thalaivas routs Telugu Titans, Gujarat FortuneGiants thrashes Bengaluru Bulls

While Tamil Thalaivas got off to a winning start in the Pro Kabaddi League season 7 campaign, Gujarat Fortunegiants exacted revenge over defending champion Bengaluru Bulls.

Published : Jul 22, 2019 00:30 IST

Tamil Thalaivas rode on Rahul Chaudhari's Super 10 to cruise to a 39-26 win over Telugu Titans in PKL 2019 on Sunday.

Tamil Thalaivas got its Pro Kabaddi League (PKL 2019) season seven campaign off to a strong start as the Ajay Thakur-led side cruised to 39-26 win over Telugu Titans at the Gachibowli Stadium on Sunday.

The earlier game of the evening saw a repeat of last season's final between Gujarat FortuneGiants and Bengaluru Bulls. However, it was a different result this time around as FortuneGiants handed Bulls a 42-24 thrashing.

DAY 2:
AS IT HAPPENED

Rahul scored a Super 10 to finish with 13 points and dominated proceedings in the company of an equally brilliant raider Ajay Thakur for the Thalaivas.

For a second consecutive match, the much-awaited show from Titans’ star raider Siddharth Desai was never really on. He was effectively countered by defender ManjeetChhillar, who also completed 200 tackle points overall in the PKL. He also scored a High 5 to the dismay of Titans’ fans.

Thailavas scored two all-outs in the first-half and one more in the second even as many local fans displayed placards asking Rahul to return to Titans.

Gujarat FortuneGiants banked on its solid defence to beat defending champion Bengaluru Bulls 42-24 on Sunday.

Earlier, Gujarat Fortunegiants scored a remarkable 42-24 win over defending champion Bengaluru Bulls. At half-time, Gujarat led 21-10. It was a revenge victory of sorts for Fortunegiants that lost to Bulls in last season’s final. 

In the first-half Gujarat showed all-round superiority as it picked up points both in raids and tackles (it in fact had more points in tackles).

Fortunegiants also scored two all-outs in the first session itself and Bulls’ star raiders Pawan Sehrawat and Rohit Kumar were not given any kind of freedom in its territory. With Sachin, Rohit Gulia and G.B. More being dominant in attack, it was obvious that Bulls were under pressure. If Bulls hoped for a change of fortune in the second-half — like in last season’s final — it was misplaced as Sehrawat got ‘out’ seven times with Parvesh Bhainsal tackling him with authority.