Pro Kabaddi PKL 8 Highlights: Ajinkya Pawar powers Tamil Thalaivas to first win of the season

Pro Kabaddi League Live Score: Get live updates and scores from the PKL 8 game between Tamil Thalaivas and Puneri Paltan being played in Bengaluru on Friday.

Updated : Dec 31, 2021 21:48 IST

Tamil Thalaivas will look for its first win of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL 8) season when it takes on Puneri Paltan on Friday.
Tamil Thalaivas will look for its first win of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL 8) season when it takes on Puneri Paltan on Friday.
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Tamil Thalaivas will look for its first win of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL 8) season when it takes on Puneri Paltan on Friday.

Welcome to Sportstar's coverage of the Pro Kabaddi League. This is Nihit Sachdeva and I will be taking you through today's PKL 8 match between Tamil Thalaivas and Puneri Paltan.

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Catch details from the second game of the night here:

However, for Puneri Paltan, it is just getting worse as they suffered their third defeat in four games.

After some frustrating ties, Thalaivas finally get their first win of the season. Not only that, they might have also found a new star or shall I say a do-or die specialist tonight in Ajinkya Pawar who finished the game with 11 points. Whenever Thalaivas were in danger, Ajinkya came up with a crucial point.


36-26:
Empty raid from Manjeet but it doesn't matter as times up!

35-24: Sahil Singh to Pankaj Mohite - Where are you going buddy? Brilliant ankle hold and the Thalaivas defense ably supporting the move.

34-24: FIRST SUPER TEN OF PKL CAREER FOR AJINKYA! The man has simply been unstoppable today. The Paltan defense fails to stop him from taking the bonus and then provided him the opportunity to take two players out as well.

31-24: Clutch. Brutal ankle hold on Aslam Inamdar by Sagar.

30-23: Empty raid from Prapanjan who smartly wasted time.

Time out taken by a visibly frustrated Puneri Paltan coach Anup Kumar. Some strong words there.

30-23: Thalaivas played it smart here as they allowed Pankaj Mohite to take the bonus but didn't give him the opportunity to get a touch. The momentum took Mohite into the lobbies and it is another all out inflicted on Paltan. 

25-22: You just can't catch hold of this man tonight! Another do-or-die raid and Ajinkya gets another point as the Paltan defense looks nervous.

24-22: A rare empty raid this time from Ajinkya.

24-21: Do-or-die raid for Thalaivas. Ajinkya gets a touch on Sanket Sawant, Easy as you like.

23-20: SUPER TACKLE!!! Massive ankle hold by Nadarajan and Manjeet just couldn't get out of it.

23-17: Another two-point raid from Ajinkya! Took out Rahul Chaudhari and Sombir.

21-17: It was a do-or-die raid for Paltan. Inamdar tried desperately for a bonus point. Convinced that he had got one, he returned back. However, the umpire said it wasn't the case which led to Paltan going for the review. The replay showed that Inamdar had cut the black line and hence, the point went to the men in blue.

20-17: Ajinkya puts in a brilliant effort in the do-or-die raid and get two points. Wow!

18-17: This is brilliant stuff from Pankaj. He waited patiently before swiftly getting a touch on Sagar and the deficit is now just a single point.

18-15: First all out for Thalaivas. Inamdar came in for the raid, one of the men in blue stepped out of the mat and Inamdar easily got a touch on Santhapanaselvam, the other one.

HALF-TIME: Thalaivas 18-11 Paltan

18-11: Ajinkya Pawar was substituted just before half-time for Athul MS and he eked out a bonus point. However, Thalaivas still have only two men on the mat. This is far from over.

17-11: Do-or-die raid for Paltan. The highly impressive Aslam Inamdar went in and got the crucial touch.

17-9: Successful tackle on Prapanjan by Vishal Bharadwaj but he must have been wondering why it took so long for his teammates to support him in blocking Prapanjan.

17-8: That was clever from Pankaj Mohite as Sagar went to block him but Pankaj crept from under his arm while getting the touch.

14-7: Bad luck for Paltan. Athul had come for a do-or-die raid. They tackled him successfully but as it turned out,Sombir had stepped into the lobby before the tackle was even made.

14-6: Thalaivas return the favour as this time, it was a do-or-die raid for Paltan but the Showman Rahul Chaudhari was taken down easily.

13-6: A couple of empty raids in the middle and it was a do-or-die raid for the Thalaivas. Manjeet took the responsibility but the Paltan didn't let him return to his side of the mat.

13-5: Empty raid from Manjeet.

9-3: We have the first all out of the game as Thailavas tackle the last Paltan raider.

6-2: Do-or-die raid for Pankaj Mohite. Thailavas protested that he had stepped into the lobbies without getting a touch mid-raid. However, they didn't need a review as they successfully tackled him.

3-2: Another bonus point gained by Manjeet. Mind you, he is the man-in-form for the Thalaivas.

2-1: Empty raid from Rahul Chaudhari.

2-1: Abinesh and Sanket push Bhavani Rajput out of the mat for the first point for the men in orange.

1-0: Manjeet starts the proceedings with a bonus point for the Thailavas.

HERE WE GO. Tamil Thalaivas will make the first raid.

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7.25pm: LINE UPS:

Tamil Thalaivas:  Manjeet, Surjeet Singh, Mohit, Athul MS, Bhavani Rajput, Sagar, Sahil Singh

Puneri Paltan:  Rahul Chaudhari, Abinesh Nadarajan, Sanket Sawant, Pankaj Mohite, Aslam Inamdar, Sombir, Vishal Bharadwaj

 

7:22pm: I'll be handing you over to my colleague Nihit Sachdeva now, while I prepare for the second game of the evening. Take it away, Nihit!

7:20pm: Puneri Paltan has a superb raiding department with the likes of Aslam Inamdar, Mohit Goyat and Pankaj Mohite. The three youngsters have been the backbone of coach Anup Kumar’s plans, with star raider Rahul Chaudhari not being given the full 40 minutes on the mat yet. And there's also Nitin Tomar, one of the best all-rounders in the PKL. A tough task ahead for the Tamil Thalaivas defenders!

Puneri-Paltans-Aslam-shines-with-his-raiding-skills-against-Telugu-Titansjpg
Aslam Inamdar has been in great form for Puneri Paltan this season.
 

7:15pm: Tamil Thalaivas has been heavily reliant on its ace raider Manjeet this season. The team had spent big money, 92 lakhs to be precise, to sign him. Manjeet has scored 22 points in three matches so far and will be a key player to watch out for today.

7:10pm: Puneri Paltan will bank on the experience of Nitin Tomar, who played a key role in the first two games but missed the last one due to a suspected injury. The Puneri Paltan hopeful will hope that Nitin is fit and can lead the team to a much-needed win today.

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Nitin Tomar has impressed for Puneri Paltan in their first game this season and will be key for the side against Telugu Titans on Saturday.
 

7:05pm: Head to head stats - Tamil Thalaivas and Puneri Paltan have met four times in the PKL and won a game each, with the other two finishing in ties.

7pm: Before we head into today's game I'd like to plug this interaction we had with U Mumba captain Fazel Atrachali yesterday. The Iranian talks about his side's superb raiders in Ajith Kumar and Abhishek Singh, how he is finally finding the space to make more tackles and much more -

6:55pm: If the Tamil Thalaivas had a subdued start, Puneri Paltan has been worse off. The side is at the very bottom of the points table with only five points from three games. Nitin Tomar's side began with a loss to table-topper Dabang Delhi and then snatched a one-point win over Telugu Titans. However, the side slipped to another loss when it took on Patna Pirates earlier in the week.

6:50pm: Tamil Thalaivas has gotten off to a rather poor start and has not won any of its three opening games. The side drew its first match against Telugu Titans and then lost to Bengaluru Bulls, before picking up a draw with U Mumba in its last encounter. The side is currently 10th in the standings with six points.

Tamil-Thalaivasjpg
Tamil Thalaivas had an interesting auction exercise, letting go of all their big-ticket players and rebuilding its squad from scratch.
 

6:45pm: Happy New Year's eve (is that even a thing?) folks! We've got two PKL games left in 2021 as Tamil Thalaivas kick off the evening by taking on the Puneri Paltan, while three-time champion Patna Pirates faces the reigning champion Bengal Warriors in the second game.

Before we introduce you to the fixtures of the day, here's a look at the results from the last three days -

 

 

 

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