Telugu Titans and U.P. Yoddha were involved in the first tie of VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 7.

Telugu Titans and U.P. Yoddha played out a tightly-contested 20-20 tie at the Dome, NSCI, SVP Stadium in Mumbai on Friday. Both teams matched each other throughout the game and it went right down to the wire. Two technical points shared between the sides in the final raid eventually resulted in the first tie of VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 7.

Siddharth 'Baahubali' Desai started the match in full throttle, picking up points consistently with his early raids. With brother Suraj Desai complementing him well, he propelled Telugu Titans to a 7-3 lead in the first 10 minutes.

U.P. Yoddha picked up the next four points, courtesy two successful Do-or-Die raids - one by Monu Goyat and one by Shrikant Jadhav - and a couple of tackle points, to restore parity with eight minutes to go for the half-time whistle. Telugu Titans, however, fought back, inspired by Farhad Milaghardan, to restore their four-point lead soon after.

With the score 11-7, and U.P. Yoddha reduced to three men on the mat, a crucial Super Tackle by Amit on Suraj averted any further damage. From there, U.P. Yoddha finished the half strongly to go into the break with the score tied at 11-11.

Siddharth 'Baahubali' Desai was the most successful raider in the match with 5 raid points.

The second period began with the two sides matching each other blow for blow in the opening few minutes. Deadlocked at 15-15 heading into the final nine minutes of the match, it was Telugu Titans who seemed to have eventually broken free with two tackle points by captain Abozar Mighani and a successful DO-or-Die raid by Siddharth.

But like in the first-half, U.P. Yoddha clawed their way back into the contest yet again by the virtue of a Super Tackle by Nitesh Kumar and another successful Do-or-Die attempt by Shrikant. Nothing separated the two teams with just under two minutes left on the clock.

With time running out and the margin for error razor thin, the match trickled down to the final raid of the contest. Siddharth stepped out for the buzzer raid with the score reading 19-19, and it seemed Telugu Titans might have won it with Sumit stepping out of bounds. However, with Telugu Titans players rushing onto the mat before the referee signalled the end of the game, U.P. Yoddha, too, were awarded a technical point and the match ended as a tie at 20-20.

Top Performers:

Telugu Titans –

Best Raider – Siddharth Desai (5 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Abozar Mighani (4 Tackle Points)

U.P. Yoddha –

Best Raider – Shrikant Jadhav (3 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Amit (4 Tackle Points)