Telugu Titans rally late to secure tie against Bengal Warriors

Four unanswered points in the final 100 seconds saw Telugu Titans earn a 32-32 tie against the Bengal Warriors. Maninder Singh registered his 12th Super 10 of the season while Titans Ankit Beniwal and Rajnish combined for 15 raid points. 

The two sides matched each other blow-for-blow for the majority of the first half, as neither managed to build a substantial lead. Maninder was off to a strong start, but the rest of the raiding unit struggled to get going as the game remained evenly poised at 4-4. 

Midway through the first half, the Titans reduced the Warriors to three on the mat, but the defence held fort and Super Tackled Adarsh T to maintain parity on the scoreboard. Another Super Tackle on Rajnish, followed by a touch point from Maninder, saw Bengal take a three-point lead late in the first half. In the final action before the break, Adarsh went in for a Do-or-die raid and managed to draw an advanced tackle out of Ran Singh, which he easily escaped to cut the Titans’ deficit to two.

Surinder Singh’s sensational Dash on Maninder left the Warriors with just three players on the mat. In the subsequent raid, Beniwal managed to pressure two defenders into stepping out of bounds and picked up a touch point on the third to inflict an All Out on Bengal.

With his team trailing by five, Maninder shouldered the responsibility of bringing his side back into the contest. He first delivered a Super Raid that sent two Titans players to the bench and responded to Rajnish’s two-point raid with a two-point raid of his own to cut the Warriors’ deficit to a couple of points. 

Ankit and the defence pushed the Titans’ lead back up to four, but another two-point raid from Maninder kept the Warriors within striking distance on the scoreboard. Rohit’s sensational block on Ankit and Manoj Gowda’s two-point raid saw Bengal reclaim the lead, and Maninder’s 11th raid point of the night reduced the Titans to a solitary man on the mat.

The Warriors’ defence sat deep and surrendered a bonus to Galla Raju before swarming the raider to inflict an All Out to take a three-point lead with less than three minutes left in the game. A successful bonus attempt from Mohammad Nabibakhsh extended Bengal’s lead to four, but a bonus from Rajnish and a two-point raid from Beniwal cut the Titans deficit to one with less than 40 seconds left in the contest. 

Maninder went in to secure the win for his side but was instead pinned down by the defence, which levelled the scores. Beniwal took no risk in the final raid and saw the clock wind down to zero before returning to his team’s half to help the Titans earn three points from the contest.

Top Performers 

Bengal Warriors

Best Raider – Maninder Singh (11 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Rohit (3 Tackle Points)

Telugu Titans 

Best Raider – Ankit Beniwal (8 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Akash Choudhary (3 Tackle Points)