Gujarat and Haryana share the spoils in tense match

The Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday saw one of the most closely-contested matches of VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 5 so far between Gujarat Fortunegiants and Haryana Steelers as neither debutant was able to get the better of the other, and the match ended with a 27-27 scoreline. However, Gujarat will be a little disappointed with the result as they seemed to let their guard down late in the game allowing the Steelers to make an impressive comeback.

Gujarat Fortunegiants ran away to an early 4-point lead in the opening minutes as the Haryana Steelers raiders failed to score. But the Steelers defence was on point and managed to draw level in the 13^th minute on the back of a Surender Nada super tackle. Their raiders, though, continued to disappoint because of which Gujarat were able to have an advantage going into half time with an 11-8 lead.

Substitute Surjeet Singh scored early in the second half and skipper Nada held the defence together, scoring a High 5 in the process as the Steelers again succeeded in levelling the score. However, Surjeet was taken out immediately in favour of Mohit Chhillar and an ill-timed Nada pursuit opened the floodgates. With the Haryana captain on the bench, the Fortunegiants inflicted an All-Out taking a massive 20-13 lead. It looked like game over for Haryana till Surjeet was brought back on. He was a live wire while raiding and his presence inspired the Haryana comeback. He and Vikash Khandola, who scored a brilliant super raid, banded together and kept scoring consistently as the Steelers levelled for a third time. From there, there was nothing to choose between the two teams and exciting raids from both sides late in the game meant the match ended at 27-27.