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Pro Kabaddi League: Telugu Titans, Jaipur Pink Panthers tied

The scoreline read 39-39 when Jasvir took the final raid of the match
Hyderabad: The Telugu Titans blew an eight-point lead to draw against Jaipur Pink Panthers in their opening home match of the second round at the StarSports Pro Kabaddi League being played at the Gachibowli indoor stadium here.
Defending champions Pink Panthers rallied from 12-20 at the end of the first half to hold the hosts to a 39-39 draw. Goof ups towards the end by skipper Jasvir Singh and Rajesh Narwal cost the Panthers the match.
The scoreline read 39-39 when Jasvir took the final raid of the match. But the skipper seemed unaware of the tied scores and wasted close to 15 precious seconds just walking across the opposition turf and not going for the kill.
“I don’t really know what was going on in his mind when he took the last raid. He must have thought that we have a one-point lead and hence he did not attack,” Panthers’ raider Sonu Narwal said after the match.
In an earlier raid, Rajesh was caught on the wrong foot by Titan’s Sandeep.
The 19-year-old prodigy set his sights on Rajesh and pinned him down and his teammates did the rest. Panthers’ Sonu, who was trapped by the Titans only once in the entire match, was the top scorer for his team with 13 points including three bonus points.
Sonu, who was also adjudged the best raider of the match, single handedly was responsible to get the hosts all out in the second half of the match.
Titans’ Rahul Chaudhari, who was slow to get off the blocks with him empty raids, regained his composure to pocket 14 points and bring his team from 34-39 in the dying minutes of the match to level the scores at 39-39.
“I think we played well in the first half. We lost our way in the second half and lacked quality defence. In the next game we will have to work hard on our defence and make amends,” Rahul said.
When asked about his form, Rahul said, “I think I recovered well. But had the team won the feeling would have been a little better. I mean everyone plays to win just that we came up against a strong opponent,” he said.
The Results
Telugu Titans 39 (Rahul Chaudhari 14, Sukesh Hegde 9) drew with Jaipur Pink Panthers 39 (Sonu Narwal 13, Rajesh Narwal 7).
U Mumba 29 (Anup Kumar 8) bt Dabang Delhi 25 (Kashiling Adake 7).
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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