Pro Kabaddi League season 8 witnessed another tie, this time between former champions U Mumba and Tamil Thalaivas in Monday's (December 27) action.
V. Ajith Kumar's gem was not good enough for U Mumba as they had to settle for a 30-30 tie against Tamil Thaliavas in a thriller. The raider scored 15 points in the match to help U Mumba take a lead after trailing for long periods, but a last-minute blunder by the season 2 champions helped Thalaivas escape with a tie, their second of the season.
The first half got off with Thaliavas dominance. Captain Surjeet Singh, ably supported by Sahil Singh in the left corner, thwarted Mumbai raiders Abhishek Singh and V Ajith Kumar in successive attempts.
With Manjeet and Bhavani Rajput impressing with their raids, the Thaliavas grabbed their first ALL OUT in the seventh minute to open up an 8-point lead.
The Thalaivas had six successful tackles as opposed to none by U Mumba in the first 15-minutes but they lost their course in the final minutes of the first half. Mumbai scored nine points in the last five minutes of the half though.
Ajith produced a stunning four-point Super Raid and an additional two points for ALL OUT, to trim the Thaliavas' lead to just two points in the last minute. The first half ended at 17-14 in favour of Thaliavas but the momentum was with Mumbai.
Thaliavas continued with their aggressive approach in the early minutes of the second half with Bhavani Rajput looking their best raider.
But Thalaivas continued to struggle against their former raider Ajith Kumar who clinched his Super 10 and helped Mumbai keep pace, which proved to be the difference as his raid points fetched U Mumba an ALL OUT with six minutes remaining in the match.
For the third match in a row, Thalaivas had allowed a team to make a comeback and take the lead. But the team from Chennai calculated the last raids effectively to ensure Mumbai had to make a do-or-die attempt in the last move of the match.
Ajith Kumar went for the touch instead of sacrificing himself for a bonus point and the Thaliavas defence rounded him off to clinch a tie.
Jaipur put up Panther show
Jaipur Pink Panthers, led by Deepak Hooda rocked UP Yoddha to seal the match with a 32-29 scoreline in a tight contest. Arjun Deshwal was the star for Jaipur with 11 raid points. He was well complemented by his captain Deepak Hooda who scored 9 Points in the match. Surender Gill returned with the most raid points (10 Points) for UP Yoddha. Meanwhile, Pardeep Narwal, the UP captain could not do much today as he managed only three points.
UP Yoddha had come into this match with a lot of confidence after winning 36-35 against Patna Pirates in their previous match. Pardeep Narwal’s stellar performance has won 12 points for UP Yoddha who was followed by Sumit with 6 tackle points. Jaipur team were also coming on the back of a 40-38 win against the Haryana Steelers and rode on their fine form to beat the Yoddhas.
