Rahul Chaudhari inspired a fine comeback as Tamil Thalaivas beat Haryana Steelers 35-28 to record their second win of the Pro Kabaddi season at the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna on Sunday.
Chaudhari scored 14 points on the night as Thalaivas overcame a ten-point deficit in the second half.
Vikas Khandola who made his first start of the season after recovering from an injury helped the Steelers get off the blocks quickly to take a 10-4 lead. He followed that up with a another brilliant raid to inflict an all-out on Tamil Thalaivas.
Raiders Vinay and Naveen picked up points in their raids to lend good support to Khandola as Steelers worked themselves into a strong position at the break.
However, Ajay Thakur and Chaudhari came into their own after the interval to clean up the Steelers within five minutes. With the deficit down to just three, Steelers’ defence crumbled under the pressure from Chaudhari who helped the Chennai side level matters at 25-25, before a second all-out put them in front for the first time in the evening.
A late Super Tackle on Chaudhari gave Steelers hope again, but the Thalaivas defence tightened up in the second helped them seal a 35-28 win.
Puneri Paltan register first win
Puneri Paltan stunned home side Patna Pirates 40-21 to post their first win of the Pro Kabaddi season in the second game of the day.
Pune made a bright start to the game tackling Patna’s star raider Pardeep Narwal in the very first raid of the game. It set the tone for the rest of the first half as Puneri Paltan, riding on the heroics of former Pirates’ raider Manjeet and Amit Kumar, opened up a 14-0 lead in the 9th minute.
Patna responded to the shock start by scoring five straight points and grabbed their first all-out of the game in the 15th minute.
However, with the score reading 16-9 in Pune’s favour, Amit Kumar’s all-round show helped the Anup Kumar-coached side maintain their healthy advantage. In the 31st minute, Pune’s Pankaj Mohite scored a super raid to inflict another all-out on the home side and put the game beyond them.
Pardeep Narwal spent over 20 minutes on the bench as Pune closed out a morale-boosting victory.
On Monday, Dabang Delhi take on Jaipur Pink Panthers before Gujarat Fortunegiants’ match against Puneri Paltan.