Best Defender of the Match: Sandeep Narwal (Telugu Titans)
Best Raider of the Match: Rahul Chaudhari (Telugu Titans)
FULL TIME Telugu Titans 32 – 29 Puneri Paltan
40’ Telugu Titans 32 – 29 Puneri Paltan – The game goes into the last two minutes with Telugu Titans leading by three. Sandeep Narwal leaps and yet again gets Ajay Thakur. Rahul Chaudhari is revived and comes on to run down the clock. Sonu Narwal tries his hand at everything but is not good enough and who stops him? Who else but Sandeep Narwal. Telugu Titans are running away with this. Just 30 seconds to go but Nilesh Salunke goes too deep and gets tackled. Review by Telugu Titans as they think the defender has gone out before the contact. UNSUCCESSFUL but Telugu hold on to win the game. Phenomenal performance.
38’ Telugu Titans 15 – 17 Puneri Paltan – Deepak Niwas Hooda gets Vinod to reduce the lead to just one point. Nilesh Salunke attacks for Hyderabad and gets the bonus yet again. He is getting more bonuses than employees of American banks tonight. Mahalingam raises his hand up and takes down Deepak Niwas Hooda to take his team’s lead to three. But we have a review at our hands. Puneri Paltan review. UNSUCCESSFUL
36’ Telugu Titans 28 – 26 Puneri Paltan – Rahul Chaudhari is tackled on by Joginder Narwal but the Titans raider shows who is boss. What a raid. He continues after Pune’s empty raid and gets two touch points to get his SUPER 10. Telugu Titans are leading by three points now. What a performance this has been from Rahul Chaudhari. He gets over excited and goes into the yellow zone.
34’ Telugu Titans 25 – 23 Puneri Paltan – The game looks excellently poised here as both teams are in the hunt. You simply cannot choose between these two teams. Play resumes after the Timeout and Nilesh Salunke attacks for the Titans but gets taken down badly by the Puneri defence. What a stunning piece of play that was. Deepak with a do or die raid and he gets tackled on both knees by Sandeep Dhull. Brilliant from the Titans.
32’ Telugu Titans 24 – 22 Puneri Paltan – Unnecessary and over exuberance from Rahul Chaudhari, who is livid after being told to sit out for two raids. Nilesh gets the bonus but Deepak negates that by getting a touch point. Rahul Chaudhari attacks again but does not get anything this time. Pune make a substitution and Sandeep is back for Titans. Deepak Niwas Hooda raids with Pune trailing by two. Empty raid. Another one is followed by a TIMEOUT
29’ Telugu Titans 23 – 21 Puneri Paltan – What can you say about Rahul Chaudhari? He just does not stop. Brilliant raiding. Sandeep Narwal gets one more tackle successful on Ajay Thakur to take Telugu Titans’ lead to three. Excellent turnaround by Telugu Titans here and they have royally bounced back to show what a great side they are. Nilesh Salunke, who has been relatively quiet tonight, raids for Telugu Titans and gets the bonus. Titans are consolidating. YELLOW CARD for Sandeep Narwal. What a blow.
26’ Telugu Titans 22 – 20 Puneri Paltan – Pune have their noses ahead of Telugu Titans and are doing really well to keep the lead. Sukesh Hegde and Ajay Thakur raid but do not get anything. Ajay Thakur in for a do or die raid and this time gets blocked by Mahalingam. Rahul Chaudhari attacks with three men on the mat and he gets one point. 399 for Rahul in Pro Kabaddi and Pune have just two men on the mat. Parmod Narwal gets the bonus but Vinod tackles him to get one point. It’s 400 for Rahul. ALL OUT as well. WOW!!!!
23’ Telugu Titans 16 – 19 Puneri Paltan – The second half begins on a cautious note as both teams play out empty raids. First do or die raids of the second half and Dalbir attacks for Puneri Paltan but Sandeep Narwal was waiting for his prey and pounces like a lion. Puneri are down to three but Ravinder Pahal gets Rahul Chaudhari yet again to effect a Super Tackle. What a match. Great attack and great defence.
We have had an enthralling first half that has seen everything except for a Super Tackle. Puneri Paltan were looking to be running away with the game but Telugu Titans have shown yet again that they can never be counted out. With an outfit featuring Sandeep Narwal, Sandeep Dhull and obviously Rahul Chauhdari, you can never rule them out. Will they come back to win this game? Stay tuned to find out.
HALF TIME Telugu Titans 15 – 17 Puneri Paltan
20’ Telugu Titans 15 – 17 Puneri Paltan – Sandeep is on fire here. After getting a superb raid point quickly, he puts in one more tackle to reduce the deficit to just two points. Telugu Titans have shown great temperament to be not bogged down. Nilesh Salunke attacks with the last raid before half time in front of a four man defence. He plays down the clock and it is half time.
18’ Telugu Titans 14 – 17 Puneri Paltan – Sandeep Narwal’s firs raid of the night results in a technical point for the side from Hyderabad. His raid is followed by Ajay Thakur, who is looking on top of his game here and plays it safe. Somvir Shekhar produces a great tackle to take down Sukesh Hegde. Telugu Titans, however, get another technical points. The lead is five point here. Sandeep raids does an in and out to play for the do or die raid. He plays it well and takes down Ajay Thakur. The lead is down to three points.
15’ Telugu Titans 10 – 16 Puneri Paltan – Empty raids dictating play at the end of this first half here as Rahul Chaudhari does not get anything yet again. Deepak Hooda breaks that trend with an excellent running hand touch on Sukesh Hegde. Rahul, looking quite menacing, attacks but decides to play safe here. Ajay Thakur raids with just five men on the mat here for Puneri Paltan but he too goes back empty handed. Rahul with a do or die raid and gets tackled by Ravinder Pahal. Great tackle.
12’ Telugu Titans 9 – 14 Puneri Paltan – Rahul Chaudhari is now just two points away from 400 raid points but gets nothing on this attempt. Deepak Hooda, meanwhile, stings the Telugu Titans defence yet again and gets a touch point. Ajay Thakur is tackled by Vinod and the deficit is reduced to just four points. Telugu Titans are recovering slowly. Salunke with a do or die raid and gets tackled.
9’ Telugu Titans 8 – 12 Puneri Paltan – Pune have got off to a roaring start here and they do not seem to be missing their captain Manjeet Chhillar. Stellar in attack and amazing in defence. Deepak Niwas Hooda gets one more point to extend the lead to six point. Nilesh Salunke gets one point through a running hand touch.
6’ Telugu Titans 6 – 10 Puneri Paltan – The game is looking quite interesting here as both teams have great attacking prowess. Deepak Niwas Hooda shows brilliant awareness to get two more touch points. Do or die raid for Telugu Titans and Nilesh Salunke gets the bonus point. Deepak Niwas Hooda raids again and removes Salunke to reduce Telugu Titans to one man. Rahul attacks with the chance of the All Out but revives one teammmate. Super Tackle on as Hooda attacks and gets one point again. All Out on again and Rahul raids. He is tackled by Pahal. ALL OUT!!!!
3’ Telugu Titans – Puneri Paltan – Star raider Rahul Chaudhari, with nothing but raid point on his mind, walks into the Pune half and gets a touch point. Brilliant flying kick. Ajay Thakur, as huge as Rahul, begins proceedings with a SUPER RAID. This is stunning stuff. What a start to the match. Rahul raids again and gets the bonus point. He is looking good today. Deepak Hooda raids with four men on the mat for Titans but comes back empty handed. Nilesh Salunke attacks but does not get anything.
We are minutes away from kick off and the battle lines have been drawn.
Telugu Titans starting 7: Rahul Chaudhari, Sandeep Narwal, Sandeep Dhull, Jasmer Singh, Vinod, Nilesh Salunke, Sagar Krishna
Puneri Paltan starting 7: Deepak Hooda, Ravinder Pahal, Ajay Thakur, Sonu Narwal,Somvir Shekhar, Preetam Chhillar, Joginder Narwal
Great point made by Rahul Chaudhari here and he emphasises on how important defending is in Pro Kabaddi. Just like you need bowlers who can pick up 20 wickets to win a Test match. You need your defence to be on fire if any team wants to win the tournament. A big news coming from the centre that Manjeet Chhillar will not be playing for Puneri Paltan. This is a big blow, especially against an attack like that of the Telugu Titans.
We are just half an hour away from kick off and the excitement is building up. All eyes will be on Rahul Chaudhari tonight. He is just phenomenal and can reach 400 raid points tonight in Pro Kabaddi. He will be the first player to get there. Chaudhari has an average of 8 and 19 Super 10s.
Catch the live commentary of this match in Hindi here
Hello friends and welcome to the live coverage of Pro Kabaddi 2016 Season 4. We are back for one last time from Bengaluru to bring you the live coverage of our two contests of the day. The first of those two is going to see Telugu Titans go up against the Puneri Paltan. Both the teams have won an equal number of contests, but the Paltan have been involved in the draws that put them ahead of the Titans in the points table.
But coming into the contest, it will be the Titans who will have the upper hand as they have recovered beautifully after a slow start and have 4 wins from their last 5 games. The Puneri Paltan, on the other hand started the season on a blazing note by registering wins against U Mumba and the team they’ll be facing today, but in their last 5 games, they have blown hot and cold to finish on the winning side only twice.
What will be interesting to see is whether their inspirational skipper and one of the best all rounders of Star Sports Pro, Manjeet Chhillar turns up for the men in orange after the last match saw him suffering what looked a serious injury. Chhillar was Paltan’s chief architect of the win over the Titans when the two teams last locked horns in the inaugural contest of the fourth season.
For Titans, Rahul Chaudhari has regained his supreme touch in season 4 and with Nilesh Salunkhe, Sandeep Narwal Sandeep Dhull playing around him, the team has suddenly started looking like a dangerous proposition. Besides, the Titans enjoy a superior overall record as they have faced defeat at the hands of Puneri Paltan only twice and won 4 games. And it is not just the opposition, but the venue also which doesn’t quite get the best out of men in orange. Out of the five times they have played in front of the Bengaluru crowds, they have tasted victory only once.
The talk in the Pune camp, however, suggests that the team is supremely confident in quest of their first title win as Ajay Thakur declared in the press conference after the tie against Bengal Warriors that mentally the team has already booked a place for themselves in the finals. But the Paltan raider would know that all such talk can come to naught if they are not complemented by similarly strong performances.
The contest we are waiting with bated breath to watch is going to be between Paltan’s defender par excellence Ravinder Pahal and Titans’ maverick skipper Rahul Chaudhari. This crucial duel can very well decide the fate of the game as if Chaudhari can be stopped, it would put a lot of pressure on Titans’ second line of attack.
KEY TALKING POINTS
Telugu Titans
They have come out strong and hard to win three games in a row. Arguably the Best raider of Pro Kabaddi League, Rahul Chaudhary will be challenged by Pune's left cover, Manjeet Chillar and right corner, Ravinder Pahal tonight. So, He might struggle and the other raider, Nilesh Salunke should take more responsibilities of raiding on his shoulders.
Puneri Paltan
They have looked quite consistent with their performance in this season so far. Their captain, Manjeet Chillar is earning points in both raiding and defense and he could prove to be dangerous for Titans tonight. With Sandeep Narwal and Sandeep Dhull looking solid at the corners, it will be a hard task for Deepak Niwas Hooda to chip in with some raid points.
