VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 6 got off to a superb start as Tamil Thalaivas exhibited some aggressive kabaddi in the opening game to take out defending champions Patna Pirates 42-26 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. Ajay Thakur scored an impressive 14 points to lead his team to their first victory at home while Amit Hooda kept opposition captain Pardeep Narwal from running away with the game and scored 4 tackle points in the process.  

The game started firmly in favour of the Thalaivas with Ajay Thakur’s pace and Amit Hooda’s confidence in defence giving the team their first All-Out over the Pirates and an 11-2 lead. Patna’s defence were unable to keep up with Thakur’s constant assault but their captain Pardeep Narwal kept them in the hunt by taking out Manjeet Chhillar and Ajay Thakur in one raid before sending back Jasvir Singh to reduce the Thalaivas to four players.

However, even without their experienced trio on the mat, the Thalaivas had more than their fair share of aces up their sleeve and Surjeet Singh’s Super Raid in the 11th minute put the pressure squarely back on Patna.

Thalaivas extend their dominance

Having survived the scare, Tamil Thalaivas went on the offence once again and brought about a Patna All-Out once again in the 16th minute to take 23-8 lead. Manjeet Chhillar, who had been troubled by Narwal in the earlier part of the half, came back into the game with 3 tackle points. The first half ended with the Thalaivas having a big advantage with a 26-8 lead. The Pirates had no successful tackles in the half at all which showcased the class of the Thalaivas attack.

The second half had more of the same from Tamil Thalaivas as the introduction of Tushar Patil brought about no change in Patna’s fortunes. Thakur kept chipping away at their defence and reached his Super 10 in the 4th minute while inflicting a third All-Out on the visitors.

Attack the best defence

Pardeep Narwal and young Manjeet from Patna Pirates were the only players giving a fight but received little support from the defence. The first tackle point for the Pirates came in 4th minute of the second half, 24 minutes after the start of the match.

Narwal and Manjeet kept up their attacking ways and reduced the Thalaivas to 3 men in the 7th minute but the introduction of D. Gopu in the Chennai team’s defence enabled them to pull off a Super Tackle on Narwal and increase their lead to 23 points.

A Thalaivas All-Out

Narwal reached his Super 10 in the 18th minute and brought about a Tamil Thalaivas All-Out in the closing minutes of the match but it was too late for any kind of fightback from Patna. The Thalaivas sealed an easy 16-point win in their first home game. Between them, Narwal and Manjeet scored 19 of the Pirates’26 points while the team managed just 2 tackle points in the entire game.