Jaipur win thriller against Gujarat, Bengal and Titans share spoils in PKL 8

Deepak Hooda and Maninder Singh scored Super 10's for their respective teams.

Deepak Hooda was the star for Season 1 champions Jaipur Pink Panthers as they beat Gujarat Giants 36-31 in the 100th match of vivo Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 8. Deepak Hooda scored a Super 10 (11 points) in a win that will help Jaipur in their race for a Playoff spot and top-6 finish. He was supported well by the Panthers defence. Sandeep Dhull scored 4 points while Deepak Singh and Vishal chipped in with 3 points each. Gujarat Giants had levelled the scores in the dying stages of the second half, but Jaipur’s experience helped them navigate carefully in a tense situation. Raider Rakesh Narwal scored 8 points for Gujarat while cover defender Parvesh Bhainswal scored 4.

Jaipur started the match on the front foot with Arjun Deshwal and Deepak Hooda taking turns to raid. But Gujarat slowly got back into the match as their raider duo of Ajay Kumar and Pardeep Kumar got into the game. The much-famed Gujarat defence struggled to stop the Jaipur raiders while at the other end Jaipur started finding form. Rakesh Narwal ensured Gujarat escaped with a few points and delay an ALL OUT. Parvesh Bhainswal and Girish Ernak then combined to execute a Super Tackle for the Giants. But Jaipur eventually clinched that ALL OUT with 1 minute to half time. They open a 6-point lead with scores 20-14 at half time of the PKL encounter. The Giants had just 3 tackle points as opposed to Jaipur’s 8 points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfnoa3k64ZQ

Jaipur started the second half with the desire to inflict another ALL OUT on Gujarat. But the Giants clinched 2 Super Tackles to temporarily change the balance of the match. Parvesh Bhainswal rushed to 4 tackle points while Iranian Hadi Oshtorak – a 25th-minute substitute for Ajay Kumar - also impressed. The Giants reduced Jaipur’s lead to just 3 points with 10 minutes remaining in the PKL encounter.

Gujarat clinched their ALL OUT with 7 minutes on the clock to level the scores. But Jaipur showed their champion DNA as Deepak Hooda and Arjun Deshwal stepped up a gear. They helped Panthers open a 5-point lead with under 2 minutes remaining. Sandeep Dhull’s strong tackle on Pardeep Kumar all but confirmed a victory with Gujarat left with no star raider to bail them out. Deepak Hooda then picked up 2-points in the final raid of the match to clinch a Super 10 and win the match.

Bengal draw with Titans

Telugu Titans held Bengal Warriors to a 32-32 tiein match 101 of vivo Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 8. The closely fought encounter saw both teams take the lead multiple times before settling for a tie in the final minute. Bengal captain Maninder Singh scored a Super 10 (11 points) but that wasn’t once again enough to save his team. The defending champions will now need a flawless end to the season and a few other results going their way to make it to the Playoffs. The Titans showed grit and courage against the Warriors to earn the 3 points from the tie. Ankit Beniwal (9 points) and Rajnish (7 points) were the stars for the Titans who still have just 1 win in the entire season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI1p15TCf1c

The first half was a cagey, low-scoring affair played at a very slow pace. Bengal captain Maninder Singh didn’t have his usual influence on the mat as Titans defenders tackled him aggressively. The Telugu team also struggled in their raids with Rajnish and Adarsh failing to fetch points for their team. The Titans inched closer to an ALL OUT in the dying minutes of the first half, but Bengal Warriors produced 2 consecutive Super Tackles to shift the balance. The 4 points from the tackles helped Bengal take the lead. There were no ALL OUTs in the first half that ended 14-12 with Bengal on top of the PKL encounter.

Titans started the second half with a 5-point raid (2 for out-of-bounds, 1 for touch and 2 for ALL OUT) as Ankit Beniwal removed all the Warriors on the mat. That gave the Titans a 4-point lead. But Maninder Singh was in no mood to let Titans run away with the PKL match. He produced a 3-point Super Raid in the 6th minute after the restart and followed it with a 2-point raid.

Maninder secured his Super 10 to continue the fight back to the Titans. The captain inspired other members of the Bengal team with substitute Rahul effective in the defence. Manoj Gowda also chipped in with raid points as Bengal levelled the scores at 27-27 with 5 minutes on the clock in the PKL encounter.

Bengal used that momentum to clinch an ALL OUT with 3 minutes remaining to get a 3-point lead. To make matters worse for Titans, their raider Rajnish got a yellow card for dissent. But Ankit Beniwal immediately got a 2-point raid for the Titans, and they followed it with a successful tackle on Maninder Singh. That levelled the scores and the Telugu team decided to not risk in the final raid of the PKL 8 match.

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