Ajay Thakur scored two points in the dying seconds as Tamil Thalaivas scored a dramatic 33-32 victory over Bengal Warriors in the Pro Kabaddi League at New Delhi on Sunday. Thalaivas were in trouble going into the dying minutes of the game. Thakur scored seven of his eight raid points in the last five minutes to turn the match on its head. Maninder Singh scored 13 points for Bengal Warriors but his efforts went in vain, PTI reported.
C Arun was a rock in the defence for Thalaivas as he scored eight tackle points. This was just the third win for the newly-formed franchise. As for the Warriors, they missed the chance to go to the top of the table. Thalaivas are still at the bottom of the table in Zone B with 27 points after 12 matches while the Warriors are second with 59 points after 18 matches.
Thalaivas inflicted an all-out in the 11th minute to march into a four-point lead at 13-9 and entered the break at 18-15. The Warriors tried their best to reduce the deficit but each time, their efforts were thwarted as Thalaivas maintain a four-point lead. However, Maninder Singh’s brilliant super raid in the 31st minute helped the Warriors get their noses, taking a 26-24 lead. However, Thakur turned the tide in his team favour as he scored two points in the dying minutes to win the match for the inspired Thalaivas.
Delhi slump again as Steelers march on
Dabang Delhi’s woeful run at home continued as they crashed to their 10th defeat of the season, this time to the inspired Haryana Steelers by a whopping 24-42 margin. With the win, the Steelers have jumped to the top of the table in Zone A with 59 points from 18 matches. Delhi, meanwhile, are bottom of the pile with 30 points from 15 matches.
Deepak Kumar Dahiya and Prashanth Rai earned 11 raid points between them while Rakesh Singh (7 points) and Surender Nada (5 points) were staunch in defence as their opponents slumped to their third straight defeat at home.
The game looked all but over at the stroke of half-time as Steelers led by a handsome 9-23 margin. There was a glimmer of hope for the Delhi side as they started the second half with a super-tackle. However, the Haryana-based side inflicted an all-out to quash any hopes of an inspired Delhi comeback. lead 32-15.