PKL: Telugu Titans beats UP Yoddha
Titans wins two in a row with a 34-29 defeat of Yoddha.
Published : Oct 13, 2018 22:16 IST
An all-round performance against UP Yoddha helped Telugu Titans clinch its second win in a row in the Pro Kabaddi League. Raiders Rahul Chaudhari and Nilesh Salunke, and defenders Abozar Mighani and Vishal Bhardwaj starred for Titans as it defeated UP Yoddha 34-29 here on Saturday.
Prashanth Kumar Rai’s 11 points for Yoddha were in vain.
Titans began positively. It led 3-0 after three minutes before Yoddha opened its account with a tackle point. Rahul Chaudhari scored a raid point in the 10th minute to give Titans an 8-7 lead.
Solid lead
Yoddha’s raiders found it tough to get going in the first half; the team trailed 13-9 after 15 minutes. Rishank Devadiga had three points but didn’t get much support from Shrikant Jadhav and others. Titans took an 18-13 lead at the break, after having forced a super tackle in the 20th minute.
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Mighani put in a solid defensive shift in the first half and scored four tackle points. Mighani seemed the fittest and strongest defender in the contest — he made tackle points in crucial moments.
Comeback thwarted
The second half followed a similar pattern as Titans led for most of the first 10 minutes. Devadiga scored a two-point raid in the 26th minute as Yoddha trailed 21-16.
With less than three minutes to go, Yoddha forced a super tackle and trailed 30-25. Prashanth Kumar Rai came up with the brave moment of the match — he made the tackle which led to the super tackle. For a moment, it seemed like Yoddha might make a comeback; it trailed by four points with just two minutes left.
However, Mighani made another crucial tackle in the 39th minute to give Titans a 31-26 lead. Rahul Chaudhari then made a super raid in the dying seconds to win 34-29.