PANCHKULA: U Mumba and Telugu Titans ended their Season 10 campaigns on a thrilling note as they shared points in a gripping 45-45 draw in the Pro Kabaddi League match at the Tau Devilal indoor stadium here on Tuesday.
Telugu Titans skipper Pawan Sehrawat was the top performer of the game with 14 raid points, while U Mumba’s Amirmohammad Zafardanesh finished with 11 points.
Telugu Titans took time to get off the blocks as they needed six minutes for their first tackle point, which was followed by a fantastic multi-point raid from Pawan that reduced U Mumba to 2 men. However, they failed to capitalise on the momentum as Super Tackles from Sombir and Guman Singh took U Mumba to an 11-7 lead in the 10th minute.
Pawan struck again a minute later with another multi-point raid, which steered Telugu Titans to the 1st All-Out and a slender lead at 13-12 in the 12th minute. Both teams traded blows and exchanged the lead thereon, but the half ended with them on level terms at 19-19.
U Mumba struck right after the restart as Zafardanesh got the better of Sandeep Dhull and Hamid Nader and a solid tackle from Bittu on Sanjeevi soon after saw U Mumba bag the All-Out and soar to a 25-20 lead.
Telugu Titans battled their way past the opposition defence to get themselves back in the game. Shankar Gadai’s 2-point raid rescued them from the clutches of an All-Out and Pawan completed his Super 10 by getting past Sombir as the opposition were down to 2 men. Telugu Titans got their much-needed All-Out in the 31st minute and trailed by just 2 points at 31-33.
Pawan got the better of Shivansh to become the 3rd player to cross the 200 raid points milestone in PKL 10 as Telugu Titans drew level at 34-34 with 7 minutes to go. While it appeared like the Telugu Titans might just end their campaign with a win, Heiderali Ekrami came off the bench to produce a mind-blowing raid as he cleaned up the Telugu Titans’ 3-man defence and inflicted an All-Out. With three minutes to go, U Mumba had a comfortable lead at 44-35.
It all changed in the final minute of the match as Pawan produced a sublime 4-point Super Raid. He forced three defenders into self-outs and tagged the 4th as U Mumba were down to 1 man and the scorecard read 45-42 in their favour. Zafardanesh attempted the bonus but was not successful as Telugu Titans inflicted the ALL OUT in the very last raid of the match to restore parity at 45-45.