A breakdown of Nilesh Salunke’s heroic four-point raid against Patna Pirates

In just the second minute of Telugu Titans’ match against Patna Pirates, Nilesh Salunke went in for his first raid of the match and returned with four touch points after a mind-blowing effort, leaving Patna Pirates with just a solitary man on the mat.

Here, we analyse the four phases of Salunke’s stunning raid:

1. In an attempt to get a Running Hand Touch, Nilesh Salunke raced across the mat after pushing Left Corner Jaideep back but was met by Patna Pirates’ raider Manjeet, who attempted to bring Salunke down with a double Ankle Hold.

2. Despite Manjeet’s hands being wrapped around Salunke’s ankles and his body weight on Salunke’s hamstring and calves, the Telugu Titans raider used his core strength to pull his lower body, along with Manjeet, towards the midline by forcing his knees towards his upper body.

3. Sensing the precarious position that Salunke was in, Left Corner Jaideep, All-Rounder Tae Deok Eom and Tushar Patil jumped in to help Manjeet in stopping the raider from crossing the midline by attempting to hold his back and putting their combined weight on the raider.

4. Eom was tugging his left shoulder while Manjeet and Tushar Patil had a grip around his ankles and Jaideep was trying to pull him away from the midline by his back, but Salunke, through sheer willpower and mat awareness, managed to stretch his left arm and get it across the midline to eliminate four out of the five players on the mat for Patna Pirates.