Thakur, Pardeep star as Tamil Thalaivas and Patna Pirates play out a tie

In a game that went down to the wire, Tamil Thalaivas and Patna Pirates had to settle for a 35-35 tie at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium in Delhi on Friday. Tamil Thalaivas led the way in both raid and tackle points but the additional All-Out that Patna Pirates inflicted helped them draw level in the contest.

The beginning of the first half was an offensive showdown with both teams just managing one tackle point each in the first 13 minutes. However, Thakur and Manjeet Chhillar were the only successful raiders for Tamil Thalaivas and managed four touch points as opposed to Patna Pirates’ five.

Reduced to two men on the mat in the 15^th minute, Tamil Thalaivas’ defenders weren’t able to avoid giving Narwal a touch point and a successful tackle on D. Pradap helped Patna Pirates inflict the first All-Out on Tamil Thalaivas and take a 13-8 lead.

Check out the photos from the match here.

Ajay Thakur started things off nicely for Tamil Thalaivas once they reassembled by getting consecutive touch points and a Block by Manjeet Chhillar on Pardeep Narwal in a Do-or-Die raid brought down the deficit to three points. A successful raid by Thakur followed by a Dash on Deepak Narwal brought the deficit down to two at halftime with the scores favouring Patna Pirates 16-14.

Thakur helped Tamil Thalaivas inflict the All-Out early in the second half and take a 19-17 lead. This was followed by a tackle that sent Pardeep Narwal to the bench and a 2-point raid by Sukesh Hegde which helped Tamil Thalaivas open up a 5-point lead.

Patna Pirates then slowly made their way back into the contest through Manjeet and Dashed Thakur out of bounds to bring Tamil Thalaivas down to three men on the mat. However, A Super Tackle by D. Pradap which was well backed up by Sukesh Hegde stopped the Patna Pirates’ charge with the scores still favouring Tamil Thalaivas by 3 points.

Facing another Super Tackle, Patna Pirates managed to send Pradap to the bench after Pardeep Narwal’s raid but couldn’t avoid a Super Tackle on Manjeet. However, the All-Out was finally inflicted in the 15^th minute and catapulted Patna Pirates into the lead at 30-29. The match stayed close from there as Tamil Thalaivas kept taking the lead but Patna Pirates immediately struck back when they went to raid.

Visit the matchcentre to relive the contest here.

Pardeep Narwal’s 2-point raid which brought up his Super 10 gave Patna Pirates the lead but Thakur returned a 2-point raid of his own to get the lead back on Tamil Thalaivas’ side. Pardeep Narwal’s last raid for Patna Pirates levelled the scores at 35-35 and Thakur then put in an empty raid as both sides had to settle for a tie.

Top Performers –

Tamil Thalaivas

Best Raider: Ajay Thakur (16 raid points)

Best Defender: Manjeet Chhillar (4 tackle points)

Patna Pirates

Best Raider: Pardeep Narwal (11 raid points)

Best Defender: Jaideep (3 tackle points)