Telugu Titans defeated Patna Pirates 32 -29 in the Pro Kabaddi League at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur on Saturday.
The Titans with this triumph have moved into third place, whereas the Pirates have dropped to fourth place.
The Titans went into the match needing a win to make the qualification to the play-offs easier. They had escaped with a draw in a thrilling encounter against Bengal Warriors prior to this game. This match was no less thrilling as well as both sides went hard at each other. A win was of paramount importance to both teams.
Patna went into the match without their inspirational skipper and star raider Rakesh Kumar. In the end, this proved to be a bad blow. The Titans, on the other hand, had their star players Rahul Chaudhari and Deepak Nivas Hudda in the line-up.
It was the boys from Patna who started things off as they were the first to score. To add to this, they were also defending well. Titans' Hudda tried to mount an early raid and was thwarted.
Sandeep Narwal slipped into the Titans corner and hoodwinked Chaudhari to bring up another point for the Pirates. It all seemed to be going Patna's way as they scored LONA points. At this stage, the game was slipping away from the Titans, and they needed to hit back.
Titans star Sukesh Hegde then took the bull by the horns as he led a comeback by scoring a point. They were proving to be better in defence too as Hudda had dropped back and stopped Narwal from scoring. They then went on the attack as they brought up their first LONA points. This attacking cut Patna's lead down to two points as the scoreline read 18-16 at half-time.
The stage seemed perfect for star raider Chaudhari to come into his own and give the boys from Vizag the advantage. And the star raider did just that. Two raids on the trot by Chaudhari saw more LONA points come the way of the Titans. Patna though were not willing to give up that easy as they tried to hit back. But the attack, with Kumar not in the line-up, could not score repeatedly and this set them back. In the end, the Titans held on for a much-needed win.
Points Table
1] Jaipur Pink Panthers - 53 points
2] U Mumba - 41 points
3] Telugu Titans - 41 points
4] Patna Pirates - 40 points
5] Bengaluru Bulls - 31 points
6] Dabang Delhi - 26 points
7] Bengal Warriors - 24 points
8] Puneri Paltan - 16 points
