Telugu Titans held their nerve in a thrilling climax to hold back a spirited Tamil Thalaivas’ charge, winning 33-28 in a Vivo ProKabaddi 2017 tie which kept fans at the NSCI Indoor Stadium enthralled till the end.
Tackler Sombir emerged as Titans’ match-winner, especially heading towards the finish when Thalaivas, buoyed by tagging out the seven players in the rival side, looked in a mood to turn the game around.
Sombir top-scored for the winner with 10 points from 10 tackles attempted.
Thalaivas banked on K. Prapanjan (five raid points) for inspiration in tough moments, captain Ajay Thakur (eight raid points) was the other influential player.
Headstart
Titans had won a face-off earlier against Thalaivas, so had a headstart.
The Titans’ defence progressively became sharper to pull the side ahead 12-9 at halfway mark.
Thalaivas had their backs to the wall, with two players on the mat and were inevitably all-out. Titans had the momentum, leading by three points at this stage. Thalaivas regrouped, trapping Chaudhari and reduced the gap to 14-17. Mohsen assumed raiding duty and took his side 26-20 up.
Thalaivas coach called for time-out with four minutes remaining. Titans committed a series of errors but kept nose ahead at 26-23, winning only its third game in the season and remained in the fifth spot in Zone B, one place above their opponents.
The scores: Telugu Titans 33 (Sombir 10, Nilesh Salunkhe 5, Farhad Milaghardan 4) bt Tamil Thaliavas 28 (Ajay Thakur 8, K. Prapanjan 5, J. Darshan 3).