Telugu Titans produced on of the best performances of the Pro Kabaddi 2016 Season 4 and handed a thorough 46-25 beating to defending champions Patna Pirates. Rahul Chaudhari was again the man to watch as he wreaked havoc on a weak Patna Pirates defence. Telugu Titans were the dominant team throughout the game and did not let Patna breathe, both in defence and attack. Despite the defeat, Patna ended on top of the league table while Telugu climbed to the second spot.
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Since both teams had qualified for the final four, they fielded slightly weakened sides to rest key players. Patna Pirates were without Pardeep Narwal, Rajesh Mondal, Kuldeep Singh, Dharmaraj Cheralathan and Bajirao Hodage while Telugu Titans rested Nilesh Salunke, Jasmer Singh Gulia, Sandeep Dhull and Vinod but Rahul Chaudhari was still there. Patna were led by Hadi Oshtorak and also had Fazel Atrachali in their side.
Patna gave Abolfazel a rare start and the often used substitute began the game quite brightly and put his team on the board straight away. The defending champions, with Fazel Atrachali in their defence, extended their lead to two points but a do or die raid for Sunny cut it to one a Telugu Titans produced a stunnng tackle to take him down. Rahul Chaudhari was looking calmer than usual and rightly so as there was no pressure on him. Telugu Titans levelled scores by taking down Abolfazel but Patna gained the lead after a superb tackle on Sukesh Hegde.
Though the teams on both sides were weak, there was plenty of fantastic kabaddi on display, especially in terms of defensive prowess. The teams were level at 3-3 after five minutes in the first half. Patna finally took the lead to break the deadlock on a do or die raid for the Titans by tackling down Maghsoudlou. Abolfazel, on the following raid, claimed a touch but the referee awarded the point to the Titans. Patna reviewed and it was successful, taking the score to 5-3 and doubling their lead.
Rahul Chaudhari got on board for the night by getting a bonus point, which reduced the deficit to just one point. It was a really first period of play as both teams were not letting anything pass through. Abolfazel was looking quite lively on the night and he produced a fantastic raid to take out Sandeep Narwal. Sukesh Hegde, starting for the Titans, went one step ahead of Abolfazel to get two points and the score with nine minutes remaining was 6-6.
Abolfazel came on for abother do or die raid in the 13th minute but the Telugu Titans defence combined strongly to take him down and then double the lead when Athul produced a superb raid. Patna were down to two men and staring at an All Out in the 15th minute and Rahul took one more man off to leave his defence with an easy job. The All out in in the 15th minute opened up a huge lead of six points for the Titans. Rahul then came into his own to produce a Super Raid and take the score to 7-16 in his team’s favour. Abolfazel emulated Rahul’s feat of a Super Raid and restored the deficit to just six.
The first half ended with both teams picking up regular points but the Titans, due to a better attack, were more dominant and took the game to Patna. They were stellar in both attack and defence, ending the first period with a lead of 10 points and reducing Patna down to four men again.
Half Time: Patna Pirates 10 – 20 Telugu Titans
Patna, sensing the deficit was huge and needed immediate fixing, brought on Pardeep Narwal but it was Rahul who stole the show and produced a magical two point raid to kick start the second half, taking out Fazel Atrachali in that. Rahul then reduced Patna down to one man and a tackle on Pardeep ensured that Patna were All Out for the second time in the game and the score was 26-12 in the Titans’ favour.
There was something amazing about Rahul’s demeanour on the night and he was smiling while raiding, possibly due to the lack of any pressure and also how his team was performing. Telugu Titans, aggressive as ever, kept on piling misery on Patna and Rahul took one more point on a do or die raid to put his team 16 ahead. It was a stunning display of composure and skill combined.
Even the infusion of Pardeep Narwal could not make much of a difference as he lacked the bite and was tackled after trying his trademark dubki in the 26th minute and Patna were again down to three men. A tackle on Abolfazel by the alert Telugu Titans defence was negated by a Fazel Atrachali Super Tackle in the 28th minute. However, it did not make much of a difference to the score even after Patna produced another Super Tackle. The lead after 29 minutes was 15 points and Patna decided against bringing on Pardeep, maybe to avoid injury.
With the lead being 16 points and just 10 minutes remaining, Telugu Titans took it quite easy and effortlessly condemned Patna Pirates to their third All Out in the 32nd minute. The All Out took the score to 38-17 in favour of Telugu Titans, thereby virtually putting the game to an end. The remainder of the game saw a relatively even battle but Telugu Titans’ lead was too big for Patna to catch.
Full Time: Patna Pirates 25 – 46 Telugu Titans
