Gritty Thalaivas holds Paltan in thrilling tie

After 40 minutes of exhilarating action, Tamil Thalaivas and Puneri Paltan shared the spoils in the VIVO Pro Kabaddi cliff-hanger at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here.

In front of a vocal weekend crowd, the teams played out a 31-31 tie. Thalaivas coach Edachery Bhaskaran, for the first time this season, made alterations to his line-up. The inclusion of raider V Ajith Kumar (8 points), in place of Shabeer Bappu, turned out to be a successful move for the host.

In his full debut, Ajith bailed his side out of trouble singlehandedly with a fantastic four-point raid a few minutes from time. The Tamil Nadu lad, who was the last man standing, not only prevented an all-out but also levelled the scores at 29 each.

“The coach told me exactly what to do and I tried to execute it. I am happy that he has got the belief in me,” Game Changer of the Match Ajithtold reporters.

Rahul Chaudhari collected the same number of points as Ajith, with the duo snatching three points for its unit. Earlier, the away side took the first initiative, delivering the telling blow in the 11th minute. The enforcement of the all-out gave Puneri a slender two-point lead (15-13) at the break. Thalaivas made a bright start to the second half, drawing parity in terms of all-outs to nose ahead 18-16.

Experienced cover defender Manjeet Chhillar, who celebrated his birthday on Sunday, did not even make it to the matchday squad. He has a minor elbow injury and is expected to return to action soon.

Earlier, Siddharth Sirish Desai (18 points) picked up a gigantic haul as Telugu Titans trounced Haryana Steelers 40-29.

Siddharth was in beast mode throughout the contest, getting tackled only once. He and his brother Suraj Desai (6 points) rattled the Haryana defence in the opening period, not giving it an inch. Their exploits played a key part in Titans inflicting the first all-out in the 17th minute. After the clean sweep, Telugu had an eight-point cushion at 18-10.

It maintained the gulf going into the breather, leading 21-13. Any thought of Steelers making a comeback was quashed in the 28th minute when it suffered its second all-out. Siddharth ensured the margin widened to 11 points at full-time and as a result of it, Haryana didn’t disturb its overall tally.

“We did not get to the best of starts in PKL 7. It took us some time to find out our best starting seven. Good breaks in between the last few matches have helped us strategise better. We need to stitch more wins on the trot,” said Titans assistant coach Jagdish Kumble in the post-match presser.