PKL 8: Haryana beat UP, Bengaluru win South Indian derby against Telugu

Jaideep and Mohit got High 5s for the Steelers.

Haryana Steelers beat U.P. Yoddha 36-35 in a closely fought Match 73 of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 8. Jaideep and Mohit got High 5s for Haryana. They clinched a win in the last raid of the match. With scores tied, their raider Vinay sneaked in a quick Bonus Point right under the nose of Yoddha’s left corner to give coach Rakesh Kumar's men a victory. 

Surender Gill wasn’t part of the Gujarat squad which meant a bigger role for Pardeep Narwal. The ‘Record Breaker’ did not disappoint in the early minutes, bringing out his ‘Dubki’ to score early points and give U.P. a lead.

Right when they sensed an ALL OUT possibility, Haryana defenders upped their game. Surender Nada and Mohit gave the Steelers consecutive Super Tackles to shift the balance of the match. They levelled the scores with Vinay aiding Vikash Kandola in the raids. The first half ended 15-14 with coach Rakesh Kumar’s Steelers in the lead. 

https://youtu.be/eNsS5yd8Y_c

Haryana went full throttle in the early minutes after the interval. They got their first ALL OUT in the 3rd minute as cover defender Mohit reached his High 5. Rohit Gulia and Vikash Kandola kept picking up the raid points as well to widen the lead. They had a chance to inflict another ALL OUT in the 10th minute. Yoddha’s last man standing, Mohammad Taghi, produced a 4-point Super Raid to get his team back in the PKL match. 

U.P. reduced Haryana’s lead to just three points with 5 minutes remaining. They got an ALL OUT with 4 minutes on the clock to make the scores 31-32. Haryana’s Jaideep clinched his High 5 but Yoddha's Shrikant Jadhav pulled off a 3-point Super Raid to level the points with a minute remaining. Yoddha, however, threw away the match by misjudging a bonus point by Vinay in the last raid of the match.  

Bengaluru defeat Telugu Titans

Pawan Sehrawat’s Super-10 helped Bengaluru Bulls beat Telugu Titans 36-31in Match 74 of PKL Season 8. The Bulls captain scored 12 points, 10 of which came in the first half, as the Season 6 champions kept calm in the final minutes of the match to win the South Indian derby. The win helped the Bulls move to 1st on the points table and stop a 3-match losing streak. The Titans remained at the bottom with just 1 win in the entire season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlm-G7leQd4

Rajnish missed out of the Titans squad and that certainly hampered their performance in the first half. Bengaluru and Pawan Sehrawat started the match with high intensity and Titans could not match it. They succumbed to an ALL OUT in the 10th minute to trail by 7 points. Pawan and Bharat kept pushing the Telugu defence who had no answers for their dynamism.

Chandran Ranjit’s absence was not felt on the mat by the Bulls as they opened an 11-point lead by the end of the first half (22-11). Pawan Sehrawat also picked his Super 10 in a half that belonged completely to the Bulls.

[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News |ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]

The Titans defence looked much more confident in the early minutes of the second half as they prevented the Bulls from running away with the lead. Akash Choudhary and Surinder Singh contributed with tackle points while Ankit Beniwal took turns with Adarsh T in raiding duties. Bengaluru had an 8-point lead with 10 minutes remaining but only had 3 men on the mat.

The Titans got their first ALL OUT with 7 minutes on the clock to reduce the Bulls’ lead to 5 points. Akash Choudhary clinched his High 5 as the Titans put pressure on the Bulls in the final minutes of the match. But Deepak Narwal’s raiding and Saurabh Nandal’s solid tackling ensured the Bulls have a 5-point lead in the last minute.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Kabaddi on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and join our community on Telegram.