PKL 2017 | Rahul Chaudhari leads Titans to first win in six games

08/19/2017

Rahul Chaudhari was at his raiding best as he finished the day with 13 points against his name, nine of which came in the first half, to guide the Telugu Titans to a 37-32 win against the U Mumba. The Titans produced an all-round display that included two Super Raids and two Super Tackles.

Telugu came into the game with just one draw in their last five games while U Mumba had three wins in the same number of games. It was latter that won the toss and invited the Titans to raid first.

Rahul Chaudhari’s two Super Raids put Telugu in control

Rahul Chaudhari opened the tally with one raid point in his very first raid but on the second attempt he faced a brilliant tackle from Mumba’s defenders and was omitted from the mat for the first time. Shabeer Bapu added one bonus point to hand his team the lead but Vinoth Kumar equalled the scoreboard at 2-2 in the very next raid. Kashiling Adake created history for himself as he became the first raider to get 100 bonus points in the PKL. The Titans’ skipper who had been revived in the previous attempt, produced the first Super Raid of the night sending off three Mumba’s players including Anup Kumar. Vishal Bhardwaj’s superb tackle but Adake out of the game extending their lead to three points with the score at 7-4. Darshan Kadian’s successful raid tried to decrease the deficit but Nilesh Salunke produced a touch point in a do or die raid to keep the pressure on the Mumbai team. Even though Anup Kumar scored two bonus points in two consecutive raids, Telugu inflicted the first all-out of the game taking a commanding five point lead early in the game as the scoreboard read 12-7.

After three round of empty raids from both sides, Mumba scored the first point after the all-out through a technical point. Vinoth Kumar and Adake came out for do or die raids for their respective teams but both failed were expelled from the mat as the score reached at 13-9 in the Titans’ favour. Rahul Chaudhari and Shabber Bapu, however, both earned a point apiece for their teams. The Titan’s skipper, however, came to the front again and scored his second Super Raid of the game to extend the lead by another three points. Anup Kumar earned two raid points before his ankle hold helped his team reduce the deficit to just three points. U Mumba grabbed the initiative by expelling Rahul from the game but Nilesh Salunke’s Super Tackle on Shabeer Bappu meant that at half-time the Titans had acquired a 19-15 lead.

Titans see off late Mumba revival to secure first win in 6

After two round of empty raids from both the teams, Kadian grabbed one point. On the other side when Salunke failed to score Mumbai reduced the deficit and the Titan to just two, the latter came roaring back with a brilliant Super Tackle on Anup Kumar to increase the lead to 21-17. Vikas’ two bonus points helped the Titans increase their advantage to 4 points before Telugu Titans produced yet another Super Tackle to put Mumbai nine points away. Kuldeep Singh’s failed effort revived Titan’s skipper again but he was back on the bench after his second attempt. Mumba, however, fought back through Nitin Madane who scored two raid points which game the season two Champions some hope with the score at 27-20. Shabeer Bappu realised the amount of pressure the Titans were under and utilized it to his advantage with his two raid points that also inflicted the first all-out on the Titans. 9 minutes left in the game, Mumba had decreased the deficit to just two points and with Surender Singh’s brilliant tackle on Chaudhari made it a one point game. In the next raid when Vikas was trapped by the Mumba defenders, the Mumbai based team levelled the game at 27-27.

But Nitin Madane’s unsuccessful raid and Vikas’ perfect effort helped Titans take a two-point lead. Rahul Chaudhari, however, completed his Super 10 on the night with a brilliant two raid points to hand his team an important 31-28 lead. Mumba got one yet another technical point but the Titans’ defence ensured that Madane couldn’t benefit from his raid and kept the lead at three points. Chaudhari’s running hand touch sent Bappu out of the game and with another raid point reduced Mumba to just one player - Anup Kumar. The Indian captain was able to take a bonus point before he was stopped in his tracks by the Titans’ formidable defence which resulted in Mumba suffering their second all-out of the game. With just over a minute left in the game and the score at 37-31, the result was a mere formality but Mumba needed one more raid point to get a point in the table. In their penultimate raid, it was Bapu who earned the all-important point for the season 2 winners as the Titans rounded up the game with a score of 37-32.