The Pro Kabaddi carnival ensued after a day’s break as Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru saw an intense game of Kabaddi that saw both the teams at their attacking best. At least, that’s how both the teams started before the Titans ran away with the contest and Bulls fumbled in the chase to lose by a wide margin of 8 points.
The Titans climbed to the 4th position in the table and pushed U Mumba down to 5th as they defeated the Bulls 32-24.
Telugu Titans started on a rousing note and before one could blink, the men in black had reached the five-point mark. How crucial the match was for both the sides could be understood from the way the senior players got into taunting games early on, as Mohit Chillar taunted Titans’ star raider Rahul Chaudhari, while the Titans’ defence too tried to disturb the usually calm as cucumber Rohit Kumar.
And it continued throughout the evening as both the teams slugged it out passionately.
But it was the Bulls who were blindsided by the game the Titans brought to Bengaluru on Monday night, as Nilesh Salunkhe and Rahul Chaudhari combined to unleash raid after raids, and were duly supported by the defence who pounced on just everyone who crossed the centre line to push the score difference to more than 10 before the clock had struck 10 minutes.
Rahul Chaudhari was left surprised in the moment of the day in the 11th minute as he was taken off the mat when Surender Nada unleashed a hot pursuit on him. Yet, the Bulls were still 9 points behind at that point and that moment was the best Nada would have in the day. The Bulls were left chasing the Titans throughout the second half but looked toothless once Rohit Kumar was kept quiet by the Titans. Surender Nada was left doing raiding duties in the absence of a quality back up to Rohit Kumar and that hurt the team from Bangalore.
Rohit Kumar did pull things back a bit by putting in a super raid in the last minute before halftime, but the score at the whistle read 10-16 in favour of the Titans and Bulls needed some recovery to win from that position
Half Time Telugu Titans -16 Bengaluru Bulls -10
The second half started just like the first half did as Telugu Titans extended the lead by two points with a super tackle. The Bulls seemed stuck at 10 as Titans made merry through Rahul Chaudhari’s raids who exploited silly mistakes made by the Bengaluru defense.
Within 7 minutes of the second half, the Bengaluru Bulls were staring at an all out but they managed to hang on to a single man and avoid the all out for a long while. But it did come eventually with 10 minutes left on the clock and at this point, the Titans were enjoying a 12 point lead and the Bulls looked like chasing shadows.
Young Ashish Kumar Sangwan and Rohit Kumar threatened of a comeback for a brief while but Mahalingam’s super tackle in the 36th minutes nipped in bud any chances of a turnaround as he took out Rohit Kumar. The Bulls realizing that they might lose by a huge margin started to play defensively towards the end.
Even the Titans, who wanted to go home away with a bonus point also played the waiting game as raiders killed some time.
But the Bulls woeful defensive show didn’t spare them. In the last few seconds, as Prapanjan was making a do-or-die raid, all that the Bulls needed was to wait for him and get one point. The brain freeze in the defence, however, saw them concede a point as Prapanjan made a successful raid and gave the Titans a victory with a bonus point.
Full Time Telugu Titans -32 Bengaluru Bulls -24
