Telugu Titans Suffer Defeat to Tamil Thalaivas in PKL 2024-25
A day after opening their campaign on a brighter note, Telugu Titans suffered a 44-29 defeat by Tamil Thalaivas on Saturday at the GMCB Indoor Stadium in Gachibowli, Hyderabad in the Pro Kabaddi League 2024-25. Thalaivas cruised to a powerful win led by their raiders Narender Kandola and Sachin, commencing their season with a lot of confidence.
Star raider Pawan Sehrawat started with a ‘Super Raid’ in the very first minute of the match before plundering three more points to put the Telugu Titans in the early lead. However, Sachin rose to the occasion to snatch the lead for the Tamil outfit, inflicting an all-out on the Titans. The defence was key for the Thalaivas to maintain the lead in the first half despite Ajit Pawar and Vijay Malik’s attempts to pick up a few raid points. Thalaivas left the first half leading at 20-17.
Riding on Safar Rathe’s three successful tackles in the second half, Thalaivas completed a second ‘All Out’ to extend their lead by nine points with just 10 minutes to tick off from the clock. Narender Kandola and Sachin ensured to pick the raid points to leave no room for the Titans to stage a possible comeback.
With the Thalaivas leading 31-22, there was no way the Titans were coming back into the game with Kandola and Sachin leading the charge. Both raiders completed 10 points in the match with Abhishek Manokaran (four tackle points) and Sagar (three tackle points) showing ‘nerves of steel’ in their backline.
Pawan Sehrawat scored a Super 10 for the second day in a row while Vijay Malik accumulated nine points for the Telugu Titans. However, their efforts went in vain after the Titans suffered their first loss in just their second match.
Puneri Paltan Defeat Haryana Steelers
In a repeat of the PKL 2023-24 final, defending champions Puneri Paltan outplayed Haryana Steelers 35-25. Gaurav Khatri and captain Aslam Inamdar led the charge for the Pune team, claiming seven and five points, respectively. Shivam Patare (5) was the top-scorer for Haryana Steelers with four raid points (two touch and two bonus) and one tackle point.
