Pro Kabaddi League: Tamil Thalaivas secure playoff berth; Bengaluru Bulls beat Patna Pirates-Sports News , Firstpost

Tamil Thalaivas captain Ajinkya Pawar in action in PKL. Image: @ProKabaddi

Hyderabad: Tamil Thalaivas defeated UP Yoddhas 43-28 to secure a playoff berth while Bengaluru Bulls stayed on track for a third place finish after defeating Patna Pirates 57-44 in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.

Tamil Thalaivas were out of the blocks the quickest with Narender and Ajinkya Pawar giving them a 5-0 lead in the first few minutes. And while Anil Kumar picked up the first points for UP Yoddhas, Tamil Thalaivas were well and truly in control in the initial phase of play.

As the half progressed, UP Yoddhas kept chipping away at the lead with Anil doing most of the heavy lifting for his side. However, Tamil Thalaivas were doing enough to stay in front with the likes of Himanshu, Mohit and Arpit Saroha providing Narender and Ajinkya with ample support.

For most of the first half, the UP Yoddhas’ raiding wasn’t as effective as they would have liked it to be, while Tamil Thalaivas’ defenders had a spring in their steps. By the time the players stopped for a breather, Tamil Thalaivas led by a scoreline of 18-9.

Even though the second half started off with both sides trading points early on, Tamil Thalaivas were in control of proceedings. With a little over 13 minutes to go, UP Yoddhas landed their first All-Out of the game, and were raising hopes of a comeback as they ate into Tamil Thalaivas’ lead.

With 10 minutes left in the game, UP Yoddhas had reduced Tamil Thalaivas’ lead to 6 points. However, soon after a time-out, Tamil Thalaivas upped the ante once again, and marched on, making it a 13-point lead with 6 minutes to go. Narender had already registered his Super 10 while Ajinkya too was scoring points for fun. Eventually, Tamil Thalaivas walked off the mat with the win and flight tickets to Mumbai.

In the Bengaluru vs Patna game, Bharat emerged as the best player for the Bulls with 20 points in the game. Bharat picked up a few raid points as the Bengaluru Bulls took the lead at 13-6 in the seventh minute.

Patna Pirates were on the verge of an all out but Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh effected a fantastic raid to keep his team afloat.

However, Bharat carried out a multi-point raid soon and helped his team inflict an all out and take a massive lead at 23-12 in the 13th minute.

Sachin pulled off a magnificent running hand touch, but the Bulls still held a comfortable lead at 25-14.

Bharat caught out Sunil and Sajin C in the 17th minute as the Bulls continued to dominate the proceedings. The Bengaluru side kept raging on and ended the first half leading at 31-16.

With inputs from PTI and media release

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