Telugu Titans (Hyderabad) began their home leg with a thrilling draw against Pink Panthers (Jaipur) in the Pro Kabaddi League in Hyderabad.
The scoreline read 39-39 in the end with the teams sharing three points apiece.
The Titans remain in second place with 29 points and the Panthers in sixth with 16. The Telugu Titans had beaten the Pink Panthers 33-22 in Jaipur earlier in the competition.
Sonu Narwal, the Undoubted Hero
The hero of the match was undoubtedly the tall Sonu Narwal, who was trapped just once by the rival defence.
He had a whopping tally of 13 points including three bonus points – most of which came in the second half. Narwal ran through the Titans to help his side inflict an all-out within ten minutes of resumption – after the local side led 20-12 at the break. The score stood at 29-27 to give some hope to the visitors.
A Point-less Jasvir, a ‘Heroic’ Chaudhari
Panthers star Jasvir Singh went pointless in the first half as he was time and again successfully tackled by the Iranian duo of Meraj Sheykh and Hadi Oshtorak.
Rahul Chaudhari too was his usual self. Having started confidently before the break he pocketed seven points in the latter half. His heroics brought his team back from the brink of defeat. Having been dismissed by their rivals for the second time when they were trailing 34-39, the Titans held their nerve with Sukesh Hegde too pulling his weight. He got two points in the dying minutes which proved crucial in the end.
The Panthers made silly mistakes towards the end and failed to hold on to the lead. Jasvir was caught by Hadi and after two empty raids Rajesh Narwal was caught by Sandeep. It left the Panthers with just a point advantage. But the impressive Rahul got the vital equaliser. Jasvir who was in next, went in and returned under the impression that his team had won the match.
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