Haryana end Telugu’s Super Playoff hopes with close win

Haryana Steelers quashed Telugu Titans’ Super Playoff dream with a 32-30 win at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday. Wazir Singh was the star performer from Haryana with a game-high 14 points, while Rahul Chaudhari top-scored with 11 points for the Titans.

The action started nice and early with both teams picking up points quickly. They were neck-and-neck in the first five minutes but Haryana’s raiders were the ones who did most of the damage in the opening quarter. Wazir was causing consternation for Hyderabad’s defence in every raid and Surjeet Singh also looked dangerous with the first super raid of the game to show for his efforts.

Haryana then went on to enforce the first All-Out of the night in the 12^th minute to create a 13-6 lead and take control of the contest. The Titans did slightly reduce the deficit before the half-time interval but the northerners still took a 16-11 advantage into the break.

The second period began with defensive lapses from both teams as the raiders found frequent success to keep the scoreboard ticking for their respective sides. Raid Machine Chaudhari was unsurprisingly Telugu’s most potent threat in attack, while Wazir was Haryana’s most lethal raider and was well-supported by Deepak Kumar Dahiya and Prashanth Kumar Rai.

However, the Titans began to play some of their best kabaddi in the final quarter of the contest to tie things up at 27-27 with five minutes to play. Nilesh Salunke in tandem with Chaudhari turned on the style in attack for Hyderabad, while their defence also responded in kind.

The closing stages of the game saw fortunes fluctuate as both teams took the lead before being pegged back by the opposition. Wazir and Chaudhari took the leading roles for their teams as far as point-scoring went and in the end, it was the former who got the better of his counterpart to lead his team to victory.

Check out our snapshots from this match here.