PKL 8: Jaipur Pink Panthers hold Tamil Thalaivas

Bengaluru, Jan 16 (IANS) Tamil Thalaivas and Jaipur Pink Panthers played out an entertaining 31-31 tie in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 at The Sheraton Grand, Whitefield, here on Sunday.

Defenders of both the teams had a great outing with Thalaivas captain Surjeet Singh and Jaipur's Sandeep Dhull picking up High 5s. Thaliavas had a two-point lead going into the final raid of the match but made a mistake resulting in a tie. Their raider Manjeet misjudged a touch and walked into the lobby resulting in a Super Tackle and 2 points for Jaipur.

Tamil Thalaivas had the better start to the match with their defensive duo of Surjeet Singh and Sagar not giving Jaipur raider Arjun Deshwal an opportunity. The Panthers were not willing to let points leak in their defence as well with Sandeep Dhull and Sahul Kumar tackling the Tamil raiders with ease. The game changed momentum when experienced K. Prapanjan suffered a shoulder injury during a raid in the 7th minute.

Ajinkya Pawar was brought in as his replacement, but Jaipur sniffed an opportunity. Surjeet Singh produced a one-man Super Tackle on Arjun Deshwal but Jaipur clinched their all-out eventually with two minutes to the interval. At half-time, the scores were 17-13 in favour of Jaipur.

Tamil coach Uday Kumar wanted his team to make a slow comeback and not rush things, but his team had other plans. The second half started with a tackle on Jaipur's Deepak Hooda which was followed by a two-point raid by Bhavani Rajput. With 3 remaining on the mat, Thalaivas' Manjeet produced a stunning Super Raid that inflicted an all-out.

They took the lead, but the Panthers got it back immediately with Sandeep Dhull and Surjeet Singh picking their High 5s. The two teams matched tackle for tackle and the scores were level at 24-24 with 10 minutes remaining. Ajinkya Pawar got a 2-point raid to open the lead for Thaliavas but Jaipur's Naveen produced a Super Tackle to close the gap.

Jaipur, trailing by two points, produced a Super Tackle in the last raid of the match to earn a tie. Thalaivas will consider themselves unlucky as raider Manjeet walked into the lobby under the belief that he had gotten a touch. But the referees decided against his claim to end the closely-fought encounter.