Pro Kabaddi League 2019 | Match 34: Gujarat Fortune Giants vs Tamil Thalaivas Review | 10th August
Gujarat Fortune Giants, who were all set to play against the Tamil Thalaivas on the first day of their home leg, were coming from a loss against Puneri Paltan, which took place at the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna. Tamil Thalaivas tied with UP Yoddha in their last match and were looking for a victory.
Read to find out how the encounter between the PKL poster boy Rahul Chaudhari and lanky raider Sachin Tanwar proceeded at the Trans Stadia in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Starting 7s
Gujarat Fortune Giants: Sunil Kumar, Harmanjit Singh, Sachin Tanwar, Ankit, Parvesh Bhainswal, Sumit, Rohit Gulia
Tamil Thalaivas: Ajay Thakur, Rahul Chaudhari, Shabeer Bappu, Ajeet, Mohit Chhillar, Manjeet Chhillar, Ran Singh
Toss
Tamil Thalaivas won the toss and chose the court.
Sachin Tanwar went for Gujarat's first raid and stole a quick point from the Thalaivas' defense. In a do-or-die raid, Rahul succumbed and was thrown off the mat in no time. Ajay Thakur, who stepped on the opponent's court and sent Sunil Kumar to the bench, scored the first point for his squad.
In the fast-paced match, both teams moved neck-to-neck and it was not much different from the fans' anticipation. After ten minutes into the battle, the score was tied at ten each. The first two-pointer was performed by the Sachin of kabaddi, who gifted a lead to the Fortune Giants.
Both the Giants and the Thalaivas kept on scoring without break and none got a chance to get ahead of the other. Reduced to just three players on the mat, Ajay went and sent two defenders out, which was later challenged by the Giants. The review, upon inspecting by the TV umpires, was deemed unsuccessful.
Rohit Gulia, the young prodigy, tried his best to save the drowning ship of the Giants and retained a team member. However, it did not help much as Ajay, the iceman, inflicted a brilliant all-out on the home team in the 19th minute, disappointing the fans of Gujarat. At half time, the score 15-10 was tilted in Tamil's direction.
As the second half commenced, Gulia brought in a beautiful point for the Giants. Sachin looked quite out of form, getting tackled by the Thalaivas' defense with ease. Chaudhari's flight was stopped in the air as he was thrown off the mat by Gujarat's defensive unit. Manjeet, the one-man-army, was on fire as usual.
The Thalaivas used their review in the 29th minute of the face-off and were fortunate enough to have it in their favour. A top-class super tackle initiated by Sunil sent Chaudhari out with ease. A conflict took place due to the absence of Gujarat's review, with Manpreet entering into his aggressive mode. His claim was half heard and Gujarat were given just a single point, much to the coach's dismay.
Sunil, the captain of Gujarat, completed his high-five after a long wait. On the other hand, Rahul looked lousy and wasn't able to do much. In the 37th minute, the Thalaivas suffered their first all-out of the night, putting Gujarat in lead.
In the dying minutes of the match, Ajay's dubki gifted three points to the Thalaivas. Ajay then took a review, claiming four points, which did not go their way but did not hurt Tamil as well. Adding salt to the wounds, Tamil inflicted an all-out on the Giants for the third time on the night.
Two consolation points were given to Rohit by Chillar. Tamil Thalaivas blew minds after defeating Gujarat in their first match of the latter's home leg, which was just their second victory over the Fortune Giants in the history of PKL.
With immaculate offense and defense, the Thalaivas fought the Giants with brilliance and henceforth won the battle with the score 34-28. Gujarat lost the match in the last minutes of the encounter, due to a few unexpected rookie mistakes.
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