Bengal Warriors and Tamil Thalaivas played an enthralling 41-41 tie in the vivo Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi here on Wednesday.
An inspired Maninder Singh performance saw him get 19 points for the Warriors and he was backed up by a brilliant 11 points from captain Deepak Niwas Hooda. Meanwhile, Narender starred for the Thalaivas with 15 points.
A slow burn contest sparked to life when Ajinkya Pawar, on a DO OR DIE raid caught the Warriors’ Balaji D and Vaibhav Garje to help the Thalaivas edge ahead. While Maninder kept the Warriors in the hunt, constantly poaching bonus points, the Thalaivas raiders were more prolific on the mat. They got the first ALL OUT with a SUPER RAID, Narender catching out Balaji D, Vaibhav Garje and Shrikant Jadhav to give them a 21-9 lead.
It didn’t take them too long to get a second ALL OUT, this one created by an inept Warriors defence – who failed to get a single successful tackle in the first half. Going into halftime, the Thalaivas led 26-14.
The Warriors came out a different unit in the second half. Maninder and Deepak Niwas Hooda rallied their side to initiate their own ALL OUT to reduce the margin of the lead. While the Thalaivas defence faltered, the Warriors kept chipping away, their raiders suddenly the ones in the ascendancy.
With three minutes to go, the two teams were locked level, with no room for error at all. The teams traded the lead multiple times, trading raid for raid and tackle for tackle. Maninder got the Warriors a one-point lead on the second last raid, however, Pawar helped the Thalaivas tie the match in the end.
