Skipper Sunil Kumar and Reza Mirbagheri played starring roles as Jaipur Pink Panthers pulled off a thrilling 25-24 victory over the Tamil Thalaivas in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) 2023-24 season in Chennai on Saturday. (Kabaddi News)
A low-scoring game was defined first by some brilliant defending by Pink Panthers' Sunil and Reza, who put together a combined nine tackle points and three super tackles between them.
They had lost their home opener to Patna Pirates but the Thalaivas on Saturday clicked in unison and within the first 10 minutes, they had inflicted the first all out on the Pink Panthers to take a 7-point lead.
The first half was centred around two raiders on either side of the mat. Himanshu Narwal ran circles around the Pink Panthers, picking up 7 of the 8 raid points the Thalaivas picked up in the half.
At the other end, Arjun Deshwal picked up all the raid points for the Pink Panthers. The Thalaivas went into the break leading 16-10.
With nothing to separate the teams in the second half, it took a do or die raid by Ajinkya Pawar to set up a second all out for the Thalaivas.
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The difference though was a brick-walled Pink Panthers defence who relied on super tackles to stay in the game. Each time they were up against it, the defensive pair of Sunil Kumar and Reza Mirbagheri pulled off improbable tackles to stay in the game.
And if the tackles weren't enough, Mirbagheri went on to pull off a brilliant raid in the final three minutes to put the Pink Panthers within one point.
It started a run of play where the Pink Panthers forced regular errors from the home side and went into the final 30 seconds leading by a single point.
A miscalculation by the Thalaivas bench meant they erred on their final raid, setting up an easy finish to a tough game for the Pink Panthers.
