The Gujarat Giants played their hearts out, but eventually settled for a 31-31 tie with Tamil Thalaivas in their first match of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 at the Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Raider Rakesh top-scored for Gujarat with 13 points in the match.
The Tamil Thalaivas and Gujarat Giants were off the blocks quickly with Rakesh and Narender picking up the first points for their sides. Both teams then held strong in the defensive unit and were not taking too many chances in their raids. The Giants rode on Rakesh and Ranjit's points and took the lead at the midway stage of the first half.
The Thalaivas turned to Himanshu, Narender and Ajinkya Pawar for the impetus, while the Giants looked to build on their lead. Rakesh and Ranjit continued to lead the charge for the Giants, while in the other corner, Sahil Gulia was outstanding in marshalling the defence for the Thalaivas. At the halfway stage, the Giants led 18-16 in what was turning out to be a spicy contest.
The Thalaivas kicked off the second half with the stellar Narender continuing to perform well before M Abishek's tackle gave them their first all-out, and subsequently the lead. The early exchanges of the second essay were a quiet affair with the Korean Dong Geon Lee also registering his first points.
The Thalaivas were starting to up the ante after the early lull but found the Giants tough to break through. Nonetheless, Narender was not perturbed and kept chipping away, who had a 3-point lead with just over 9 minutes to go.
Abishek was keeping strong in defence while Narender went on to get his SUPER 10 on debut and the Thalaivas were motoring along. With just under 5 minutes in the game, the Giants needed to overturn a 4-point lead. Rakesh suddenly went through the gears in the final minutes, picking up crucial raid points and dragging the Giants back into the game as both sides were tied 31-31 with less than a minute to go. Eventually, the teams treaded carefully and settled for a 31-31 tie.
( With inputs from ANI )
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