The Tamil Thalaivas and Puneri Paltan commenced their respective Pro Kabaddi League campaigns with wins at the GMCB Indoor Stadium, Gachibowli, Hyderabad on Saturday.
While the Thalaivas beat the Telugu Titans 44-29, the Paltan beat a the Haryana Steelers 35-25.
The Thalaivas rode on the brilliance of Narender Kandola and Sachin to secure a comfortable win.
Pawan Sehrawat kicked off proceedings for the Telugu Titans with a Super Raid in the very first minute. Shortly after, the Telugu Titans captain picked up three more raid points to give his side a healthy lead.
However, the Thalaivas’ Sachin inflicted an all out as they surged ahead and took the lead on the Telugu Titans.
Midway through the first half, the Thalaivas had established a four-point lead but the Titans had Ajit Pawar and Vijay Malik chipping away at their lead.
Pawan Sehrawat did his best to help his team out in the situation, but the Thalaivas’ defence kept things tight. At the half-time break, the Thalaivas led 20-17.
The Thalaivas continued to keep the opposition at an arm’s length in the early exchanges of the second half.
Midway through the second half, Sagar Rathe helped inflict an all out on the Titans, which gave the Thalaivas a nine-point lead with 10 minutes to go. The Thalaivas won 13 points in the final ten minutes to wrap up a comprehensive win.
For the Thalaivas, both Narender Kandola and Sachin registered Super 10s, while Titans captain Pawan Sehrawat also finished the evening with a Super 10, his second in as many days, while Vijay Malik scored nine points.
Paltan beat Steelers
The Puneri Paltan kicked off their campaign with a clinical performance on Saturday with Gaurav Khatri ( seven points) top scoring for them. Pankaj Mohite, Mohit Goyat and Aman registered four points each while Aslam Inamdar finished the day with five points to his name.
Paltan captain Inamdar started off proceedings for the day for the defending champions with a quick raid.
However, the Haryana Steelers kept up pace with their opponents and both sides traded blows in the early exchanges, and neither were able to establish a significant lead.
Midway through the first half, the Paltan led 7-6 and the Steelers were finding it difficult to get going. Gaurav Khatri inflicted an all out on the Steelers midway through the first half, which helped the Paltan take a six-point lead.
Khatri, Goyat, Mohite and Inamdar led the charge for the Paltan, who finished the first half very strongly.
The second half started off at a slightly slower pace with both sides being watchful in the opening exchanges with Paltan leading by six points, and as the first half progressed, they ensured the Steelers would not cause them too much trouble.
In the final phase of the contest, Mohammadreza Shadloui looked to up the ante for the Steelers, but the Paltan were in fine form and thwarted any chances of a comeback.
With less than three minutes to go, Inamdar inflicted an all out which helped the Paltan further strengthen their stranglehold on the contest. The Puneri Paltan eventually won the contest at a canter.
