Patna Pirates 22-34 Telugu Titans; Home side suffer another loss in Pro Kabaddi

The Telugu Titans emerged victorious against home team Patna Pirates

The first match in the Patna leg of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi saw the home side lose 22-34 against a rampant Telugu Titans. Prashant Rai, with 8 points, and Sukesh Hegde, 9, starred for the away side as they put the Pirates to the sword. Before the match, Patna Pirates were rooted at the bottom of the table, while Telugu Titans stood at the second spot and the positions remained the same at the end of the tie.

Telugu Titans captain Deepak Nivas Hudda got the first points of the match in the second minute, but Ravi Dalal equalised in the subsequent raid. This was the pattern throughout the half as neither side let the other out of sight. The Pirates, led by Rakesh Kumar, took the lead in the 5th minute through their captain, but the Titans hit back straight away levelling the score at 3-3.

With the home team leading 9-8 in the 15th minute, Sukesh Hegde conjured up what was termed as a ‘super raid’ when the Titans raider won 3 points for his team. The home crowd ensured that the Pirates did not lose their confidence as they hit back with a ‘super tackle’ on Rahul Chaudhari and tied the game at 12-12 when they sent Deepak Nivas Hudda to join Rahul on the bench.

Deepak Narwal of the Pirates was tackled in the penultimate minute of the half as Telugu Titans led 13-12 at the buzzer. This was an extremely close half as the biggest lead enjoyed in the first period was by the Titans when they were ahead by 3 points.

The Titans showed their quality in the second half

2 minutes in the second half, a super tackle on Rahul Chaudhari brought Patna Pirates level at 14-a-piece while Deepak Nivas Hudda was caught by Suresh Kumar and Rakesh Kumar for another super tackle for the home side as the Pirates took the lead 16-15 in the 24th minute.

If the match was missing anything, it was an all out and that arrived in the 27th minute, but it was inflicted on the home team to the dismay of the crowd. The away team established a 5-point gap with the all out as the scoreline read 21-16 in favour of the team from Hyderabad.

The Titans unleashed an all out attack as they extended their lead to 9 points with 6 minutes to go in the match courtesy of smart raids by Sukesh Hegde and Prashant Rai. In the 37th minute, the Titans made it a massive 14-point lead, getting the Pirates all out once again in the process.

The team from Hyderabad ensured they did not slip up and completed a 34-22 win over the Patna Pirates, who remain last in the table as they prepare for a tie against Dabang Delhi. Telugu Titans, closed the gap to U Mumba on top spot with yet another win as they face Bengaluru Bulls tomorrow.

Man of the match: Sukesh Hegde

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