Odisha Juggernauts and Chennai Quick Guns on Saturday completed the semi-final lineup of the second season of Ultimate Kho Kho with convincing wins.
While the Juggernauts secured a narrow 30-27 win over Gujarat Giants, the Quick Guns thumped the Mumbai Khiladis 41-18. With their respective wins, the Juggernauts and the Quick Guns joined the Telugu Yoddhas and the Giants in the semi-final.
The Juggernauts won an encounter that was too close to call till the final whistle, with Rohan Singade frustrating the Giants attackers in the final turn and making the difference.
The Giants won the toss and chose to defend first. Their first batch of Suyash Gargate, Faizankha Pathan and Abhijit Patil managed a dream run point, a feat that the next batch of K Ram Mohan, V Subramani and Rajvardhan Patil emulated. Turn one finished 14-2 in favour of Odisha Juggernauts.
Turn two started with an amazing defensive show by the Juggernauts. Their first batch of Gowtham MK, Vishal and Dilip Khandavi managed to stay on the pitch for five minutes and 13 seconds, scoring a whopping five dream run points. With Manoj Patil staying unconquered among the second batch, The Juggernauts went into the second innings with a 19-14 lead.
The Giants’ first turn 3 batch of Akshay Bhangare, Deepak Madhav and Shubham Thorat managed two dream run points and their second batch carried on the good work. Both Suyash Gargate and Abhijit Patil remained unconquered while netting a dream run point. That meant that the Juggernauts only had a ten-point lead to defend in the final turn.
The Juggernauts needed to emulate their first innings defensive show to salvage the match. Their first batch of Dipesh More, Nikhil B and Omkar Sonawane managed a dream run point, leaving the Giants with five points to get in little over three minutes. Singade though had other ideas.
Quick Guns secure semi-final spot with big win
In the second match of the day, the Khiladis won the toss and chose to defend but the performance of their defenders in turn one did not vindicate their decision. They did not manage even a single dream run point as the Quick Guns raced to a 16-0 lead.
The Quick Guns consolidated their position with a brilliant defensive display in turn two. Their first batch of Ramji Kashyap, Madan and Vijay Shinde managed to last five minutes and 34 seconds on the mat, scoring six dream run points. Two members of their second batch remained unconquered as the Quick Guns carried a massive 22-8 lead into the second innings.
The Quick Guns attackers continued their good show in turn three. They sent back the Khiladis’ first batch in two minutes and 20 seconds and their second batch in under two minutes. That left Mumbai Khiladis with the mathematically-impossible task of scoring 30 points in the final turn. That three different players — Suraj Lande, Sachin Bhargo and Akash Kadam — scored six points showed the potency of the Chennai Quick Guns attack.