Pro Kabaddi | Ajinkya Pawar takes Tamil Thalaivas to tie against Patna Pirates
A back-and-forth contest between the Tamil Thalaivas and Pirates finished in a 30-30 tie. The game was evenly poised at start but a two-point raid from Monu turned tide in Pirates’ favour; then Mohammadreza Chiyaneh and Prashanth Kumar Rai’s solid work on defence gave Patna a four-point lead.
Ajinkya Pawar came off the bench and picked up bonus points at will, but Patna continued to add to their tally with touches and tackles and reduced the Thalaivas to just a couple of men on the mat. Monu’s excellent Ankle Hold on Pawar helped the Pirates finally inflict an All Out to take a seven-point lead. The Thalaivas scored the final point of the first half to go into the break trailing 12-18.
The Thalaivas started the second half in tremendous fashion, courtesy of Pawar, who added four points to his team’s total in just three minutes. The raider’s two-point raid cut the Thalaivas’ deficit to just and left the Pirates with just a solitary man on the mat. The defence allowed Guman Singh to pick up the bonus before pinning him down to inflict an All Out on the Pirates and take the lead.
Bhavani Rajput helped the Thalaivas push their lead to three, but Monu and the Pirates’ defence helped their team level the scores with under four minutes left in the contest. The Thalaivas’ defence helped their side reclaim the lead with a stellar chain tackle on Monu. But no sooner had they seized the advantage, Chiyaneh took it away with a sensational block on Pawar to level the scores.
Sachin’s swift toe-touch gave the Pirates the lead, but Thalaivas’ Athul MS came through at the end, picking up a raid point to rescue the game for his side.