Bengal Warriors were favourites to beat Tamil Thalaivas.
Bengal Warriors got their PKL season off to a flying start after beating opponents Tamil Thalaivas by a margin of 36-27. For Tamil Thalaivas Another loss towards the end of the Chennai Leg meant a fourth consecutive loss for home team. Maninder Singh was the best player with 9 points in his kittyf or the warriors. In the other match of the day, Patna Pirates beat UP Yoddha 43-41 to register their first win of the season for Patna Pirates.
Full Time! Bengal win. Bengal Warriors were confident throughout the game and kept their advantage intact. Maninder Singh was the best player with 9 points in his kitty. In the next match Haryana Steelers face the Gujarat Fortunegiants while Puneri Paltan take on Dabang Delhi.
Jasvir Singh gets in Ajay Thakur. Ajay Thakur with an empty raid. And that's the official time out. Five minutes to go. But will anything change in favour of Chennai? Bengal lead 33-24.
Ajay Thakur is gone! Tewatia finally gets on board. Chain combination works between him and Lee. Good defence by bengal. No need for bengal to rush as gap widens.
SECOND ALL OUT! As Manjeet Chillar goes in there is no escape for him. No bonus either. Too defensive by Thalaivas. Gap widens to 28-19.
Maninder picks up two points. Amit Hooda is foxed, not anticipate the jump. A familiar mistake by Hooda. 23-18 and the gap is widening. five-point lead for Bengal. Thalaivas call for a review and is unsuccessful. Meanwhile, a green card for Tamil Thalaivas.
At the stroke of halftime, Bengal have three-point lead. All-out for the Thalaivas. Quite a see-saw battle so far. Tamil Thalaivas 15-18 Bengal Warriors
10-11 What a turnaround this from Bengal! Ajay Thakur is tackled down!
Rakesh Narwal steps in. He is going for a raid and he does it. Super raid! The match is now all square at 10-10 . 8 minutes to go in the first half. All to play for.
At 6-5, the bonus is on. A warning for Manjeet and Jasvir is on for a touch point. It is a do or die raid, pressure on defender Maninder who is looking edgy, But well done ! good defence for Tamil Thalaivas. Amit hoooda has tasted blood.
In game two of the night, Ajay Thakur’s Tamil Thalaivas face Bengal Warriors. Bengal Warriors have an edge over Tamil Thalaivas in the head-to-head battle between the two teams, as they won 2 out of 3 matches played in PKL 5.
What a finish! Patna were leading by one point and Jadhav, who was in for the raid was brought down and the defense manages to keep their footing in their own half. However, in the end they managed to pull through, quite literally as they register their first win of the season. Matter of half a foot. So So close, gut-wrenching.
Super tackle! This time for Patna! Jawahar Dagar on fire. A perfect block and Devadiga cannot his clutch. Four point lead.
Review from the Yoddha. They are challenging the decision of a bonus point awarded to Deepak Narwal. And it is a wrong call. UP lose their review. TV Umpire does not find anything substantial to overrule the on-field umpire's decision. Three-point deficit.
ALL-OUT! This time it is on UP Yoddha! Substitute Rohit, picked up a bonus point but cannot Vikas Kale. What a briliant move by the Pirates.
Halftime arrives and Patna Pirates lead 21-20 over the UP Yoddha. All to play for in the next half. Enterprising stuff till now. Meanwhile, the newest member in the 500-point club is Rishank Devadiga.
All out! On the Pirates. 5 point lead for UP Yoddha. 11 points in 5 minutes and match swings towards the Yoddha. UP defence looks organized and all their three raiders are contributing.
ALL-OUT! UP Yoddha. After Prashant Rai picked up the bonus he goes for another but the defense pins him down. Its all equal at 10-10.
Pardeep Narwal is on the charge and has left the Yoddha's with two men on the mat with a hefty touch on Narender. Meanwhile, Prashant Rai picks up a bonus point.
Pardeep opens his account as he gets a running hand touch on left cover Amit Narwal. A successful raid from Pardeep Narwal. But the initial tackle from right corner has left him wary (5-3)
Pardeep begins proceedings for the Pirates but Nitesh Kumar get him down on the opening raid. Moments later Prashant Rai picks up a bonus point and UP lead 3-0 lead. Pirates take one back and it is 3-1
They have lined up on opposite ends of the mat at Chennai's Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor stadium and are going through the motions.
UP Yoddha: Prashant Kumar Rai, Rishank Devadiga, Shrikant Jadhav, Nitesh Kumar, Amit, Narender, Sagar KrishnaSubs: Rohit Kumar Choudary, Pankaj, Sachin Kumar, Arkam Shaikh
Patna Pirates: Deepak Narwal, Manjeet, Pardeep Narwal, Vikas Kale, Jaideep, Jawahar, Tae Deok EomSubs: Tushar Patil, Vikash Jagian, Manish, Kuldeep Singh, Vijay
U.P. Yoddha: Prashant Kumar Rai, Rishank Devadiga, Shrikant Jadhav, Nitesh Kumar, Amit, Narender, Sagar Krishna. Subs: Rohit Kumar Choudary, Pankaj, Sachin Kumar, Arkam Shaikh
Patna Pirates: Deepak Narwal, Manjeet, Pardeep Narwal, Vikas Kale, Jaideep, Jawahar, Tae Deok Eom. Subs: Tushar Patil, Vikash Jagian, Manish, Kuldeep Singh, Vijay
Hello and welcome to our coverage of the two interesting encounters of the day. Both the encounters are of group B. UP Yoddha will take on Patna Pirates in the first match of the day. It will be followed by Tamil Thalaivas vs Bengal Warriors. Both the matches are taking place in at Jawahar Lal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.