Welcome to Sportstar's coverage of the Pro Kabaddi League. This is Lavanya Lakshminarayanan and I will be taking you through today's PKL match between Telugu Titans and Haryana Steelers in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Coming up tomorrow:
- A replay of last season's final - Dabang Delhi vs Bengal Warriors
- Pardeep Narwal's UP Yoddha has a tough test against the rock solid Gujarat Giants
That's all we have time for today. Stick around, we will have match highlights for you soon until tomorrow's coverage of live action. Rest up and stay safe!
FULL TIME: Rakesh Kumar and Surender Nada have a wry smile on their faces as they greet the cameras coming around them. Haryana Steelers get their first win of the season in a match that has a lot of takeaways.
- Siddharth Desai seemed conservative in his raiding strategy and relied on bonus points for his haul today
- Ankit Beniwal stepped up and fell a point short of a super 10, but the raiding strategy seems a little scattered for the Titans
- Surender Nada has gotten better with each passing game and had a hundred percent strike rate today as he orchestrated a strong defensive performance
- Vikash Kandola seemed a little off colour but was ably supported by Rohit Gulia and Meetu, who registered his first super 10 of the season.
- Haryana this season has tended to leak points in the last quarter and there was the threat of that happening here too. Haryana did just enough to get past the line but will want to tighten its defensive performance going forward.
37-39
Rohit Gulia wastes some time but goes in and gets tackled. The clock has run down. Surender Nada still reviews for the bonus. Eitherway, the match is in Haryana's bag. REVIEW UNSUCCESSFUL. Haryana takes the game with a two point margin.
First win for the Steelers.
36-39
Haryana has conceded a point here as the raider is held by a solitary defender. Haryana just has to go and run the clock down given that there's only 30 seconds left.
35-39
Ankit runs, takes Jaideep with him. Point conceded. Haryana will run the clock down.
34-39
Ankit Beniwal hesistates. Surender Nada then latches on to his ankles and the support arrives on time. The in form raider for the Titan is off the mat with under two minutes to go.
34-38
Meetu gets his positioning all wrong as he falls to Surinder and is then dashed out decisively.
33-38
Ankit Beniwal gets another bonus point for the Titans and inches closer to his super 10.
32-38 Ankit gets a bonus point
31-38 Meetu goes in for the do-or-die raid and can do this without any anxiety given how generous Sandeep Kandola has been today. He lunges forward and gets a slippery touch.
Expect long raids from Haryana now. This can backfire quite spectacularly. Let's see how this goes.
SIX POINT LEAD FOR HARYANA.
BUT THE TITANS ARE MANAGING A COMEBACK WITHOUT SIDDHARTH DESAI. CAN HARYANA KEEP CALM AND SEE THIS THROUGH?
UNDER FIVE MINUTES LEFT.
31-37
Ankit gets Maghsoudlou if I am seeing right. Why is Haryana leaking now?
30-37
Rohit Gulia has fluffed it. He is sent off and
gives Titans a Super Tackle.
Be active. Unsettle the defense but come back safely says Rakesh Kumar.
28-37
Rakesh Gowda gets a bonus but the Rohit has pushed him out of the mat. A point each.
Vikash Kandola has come off.
Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsoudlou , who was in Patna Pirates so far, comes on for Haryana.
27-36
Ankit gets a bonus point for the Titans.
26-36
Meetu is shining today as he gets two points. Surinder Gill and C Arun I think head to the bench.
SUPER 10 for Meetu! His first in PKL history. 15 raids so far for him. Nicely done. Shows the confidence this team has in the youngsters.
26-24
Rakesh Gowda gets Rohit Gulia as we're down to the last 10 minutes.
Surender Nada has a 100 percent strike rate today. BIG POSITIVE.
25-34
Rakesh Gowda gets the bonus point.
24-34
Meetu takes out Sandeep Kandola again.
WHY IS Sandeep Kandola even trying to take him out when you see momentum with the raider?
24-33
Well done by Haryana here as Surender Nada gets an ankle hold on Ankit and pulls him back to safety.
24-32 Ankit Beniwal has pulled off a super raid
. He gets the bonus and gets Ravi and Rohit too as he stretches to the midline
Surender Nada has been given a green card, he's been commenting on one of the decisons here. He apologises and we go ahead.
21-32
Sandeep Kandola is not going to happy as he gets a slippery hold of Meetu and Meetu slips out and takes him out to the bench
21-31
Rohit gets a bonus point for Haryana
21-30 ALL OUT as
Surender Nada gets a hold on Ankit Beniwal's waist and turns him around to thump him out.
PURE STRENGTH.
20-27
Meetu takes out one of the two men left for the Titans
20-26
Haryana is happy to give Telugu Titans the bonus. But Bonuses can't revie players.
19-26
Meetu has two points here as Surinder almost allows him to slip out. Very half hearted from the Titans defense.
19-24
Rakesh Gowda is pushed off the mat with seemingly no effort. What a way to start the second half.
HALFTIME:
Haryana Steelers have been the better team by a mile. Rohit Gulia and Meetu have helped the Steelers be sprightly in the raiding department despite Vikash Kandola having a quiet night, even in terms of the raids he's putting in. Siddharth Desai has not been at his attacking best and has accumulated points through the bonus - uncharacteristic to say the very least but a large-looking gulf has been brought down to just four points which can be wiped out by Desai in just one raid IF he wants to. Stay tuned to see if Haryana can close out its first win of the season or if the tide will turn in favour of the Titans
19-23
Rakesh Gowda brings the half to an end with a bonus point for Haryana Steelers.
18-23
Siddharth Desai gets the bonus point. He goes to Surender Nada, pushes him deep and tries to negotiate his way out from the right but Ravi is strong enough to finish the job. Nicely done, Haryana Steelers.
17-22
Vikash Kandola looked like he got Surinder but he sticks on in the half only to get tackled by three lines of defense from the Titans
16-22 Siddharth Desai gets a bonus point. He's inched to 8 points as a resul
t
15-22 STOP GIFTING POINTS TITANS!
Rohit Gulia takes Ruturaj Koravi out!
15-21
Meetu gets a sliding low kick touch on the right corner defender
15-20
Siddharth Desai is too tall to be blocked half heartedly and despite two people standing in his way, he takes them with him to the midline.
13-20
Surinder and Arun again walk off as the raider carries them to the midline. Rakesh Kumar is up and about and gets a green card for arguing from the side.
13-18
Siddharth sends Mohit off to the bench with a kick.
12-18
Rohit Gulia's running hand touch gets Ruturaj Koravi.
12-17
Rakesh Gowda gets a bonus for the Titans. Vital for the Titans to avoid the do or die raid.
11-17
Rohit Gulia gets a bonus for the Steelers.
11-16
Siddharth Desai is brought down by Surender Nada. Why try, Siddharth? You cant hesitate when you're so deep in the Haryana half.
ALL OUT INFLICTED.
10-13 Terrific raid from Meetu.
Two points - one raider out, one touches his ankles as he makes his way to the midline
10-11
Siddharth Desai gets a bonus point. He's relying on the little mercies here today. So uncharacteristic.
9-11 Super tackle to Telugu Titans! VIKASH KANDOLA IS LIVID. He's contesting it.
Vikash gets a massive point on Rohit he has all the right to use the lobby. Ruturaj Koravi is running at him from the other side and pushes him out. Vikash Kandola gets a hand across the midline though. Ideally, two people from Titans should be going out.
SUPER TACKLE IS VALID SAYS THE TV UMPIRE. BUT HARYANA GETS A POINT TOO.
7-10
Rakesh Gowda gets a bonus point for Telugu Titans
6-10
Looks like a strong defense from the Titans but Sandeep Kandola has stepped out of bounds. Raider for Haryana is safe. Ooof. All a matter of luck here.
6-9 Meetu is ridiculous! DUBKI here
as he dives under Surinder. C Arun comes around too but they can't stop Meetu from touching the midline. Pardeep Narwal must be watching others successfully doing the dubki and walking off annoyed given how unsuccessful he's been with a move he made his own off late.
6-7 Baahubali on the bench as a SUPER TACKLE is inficted here by the Steelers.
Siddharth Desai kicks, Ravi anticipates and sends him to the bench
6-5 Excellent defense from the Titans
as they stump down Vikash Kandola. So close yet so far from the midline for the Steelers skipper as he's pulled straight back with a firm hold on his legs.
5-5 SOLID TACKLE FROM TELUGU TITANS.
C Arun and Surinder bring down Rohit Gulia and pull him back, even neutralising the dangling hand. Nice work.
4-5
Siddharth Desai gets a solid touch on Jaideep Kuldeep.
3-5 Hefty foot into the lobby here. Point to the Titans
I've missed a bit here trying to keep up from one game to another. Let me get you up to speed. This game is too fast for people behind computers. The irony, right!
1-5
Rakesh Gowda goes out of bounds and gives Haryana a gift
1-4
Vikash manages a neat bonus point for Haryana
1-3
Jaideep Kuldeep inflicts a powerful dash and throws Siddharth Desai off the mat. Start counting how long Sid Desai is on the mat now, as we do in every game.
1-2
Rohit Gulia has managed a bonus point but has gone out of bounds. Point to each team
0-1
Rohit Gulia starts proceedings and gets a bonus point straight away
8:30pm LINEUPS:
Telugu Titans:
Siddharth Desai, Ruturaj Koravai, Sandeep Kandola, Rakesh Gowda, Rohit Kumar, Surinder Singh, C Arun
Haryana Steelers: Vikash Kandola, Ravi Kumar, Jaideep Kuldeep,
8pm:
Haryana Steelers are currently at the bottom of the table but this is hardly representative of the kabaddi they've played this season. They have a formidable raiding unit which needs to be a little more sensible and brave while the defence could do well to not gift points and eliminate haste from their game strategy. Siddharth Desai is a tall and freakishly strong raider and will prove to be a true test of the temperament of this backline.
We also caught up with the very soft-spoken Vikash Kandola in 2019. His approach to life and kabaddi is very simple. Listen in to the Steelers' skipper.
While you wait for the game to begin, if you're a Telugu Titans fan, here's a little peek at what Siddharth Desai is like off the mat. It's not just defenders who dance to his tunes. Turns out, you might too!
8pm: Good evening everyone. Titans vs Steelers for the second game of the night promises an interesting tussle between two outstanding raiders - Siddharth Desai and Vikash Kandola. Before that, there is another tussle happening LIVE right now - the first match of the evening between Puneri Paltan and Patna Pirates . Catch that game's live coverage here:
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