Pro Kabaddi League 2019 | Match 47: Haryana Steelers vs Telugu Titans Review | 18th August
Coming from three morale-boosting victories, Haryana Steelers were all set to display their best game and improve their ranking on the team points' table.
Telugu Titans, who had a rough start to the Pro Kabaddi 2019, lost all four matches in Hyderabad in their home leg. However, they made an impressive comeback by tying with Bengal Warriors in their previous battle.
Read to find out how the anticipated battle between Haryana Steelers and Telugu Titans unraveled itself at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Tamil Nadu.
Starting 7s
Haryana Steelers: Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Prashanth Kumar Rai, Vikas Kandola, Vinay, Ravi Kumar, Vikas Kale, Sunil
Telugu Titans: Abozar Mohajermighani, Amit Kumar, Siddharth Sirish Desai, Suraj Desai, C. Arun, Vishal Bhardwaj, Farhad Rahimi Milaghardan
Toss
Telugu Titans won the toss and chose the court.
Young prowess Vikas Kandola went for Haryana's first raid and returned with the first point of the night. Opening the account for the Titans, Siddharth Desai stole a raid point for his squad.
Prashanth Kumar Rai, the Mangalore-based player, also pitched in a point for the Steelers. Both teams were playing it safe in the initial stages and the Desai brothers were the only raiders in action from the Titans.
After a cracking raid, Desai scored a two-pointer, leaving a single man on the opponent's mat. Haryana eventually suffered their first all-out of the night in the 13th minute of the encounter, hence handing the rivals a lead of nine points.
At half-time, the score 21-13 was tilted heavily in the direction of the Titans from Telugu. Siddharth gave the performance he was famous for, enabling his team to get a firm grip on the lead. Rookie errors from the offense and defense of Haryana put them behind in the first half.
As the other half commenced, Haryana took a review in favour of Vinay, which upon inspection, was deemed futile. A pursuit attempt by Siddharth stunned the defenders of the Steelers, which also helped him complete his second super-ten of the season.
With Desai on fire, he stole another two-pointer. In a single raid, he inflicted another all-out on the Steelers, giving his best performance of PKL 2019 so far. On the other hand, the Steelers clearly struggled, with just Vikas bringing in points for his squad.
A brilliant dubki from Naveen gave Haryana two points. A review was claimed by the Titans in the 35th minute of the battle, which was declared unsuccessful, sending Vishal Bhardwaj off the mat. As the encounter proceeded, Telugu inched ahead with a huge lead.
In probably the first super raid of the night, Vikas helped in reducing the score difference, with just two minutes left on the clock. The match eventually came to an end with the Titans emerging victorious with the score 40-29.
A poor defensive unit of Haryana was a big reason for their loss. On the other hand, the Desai siblings worked to perfection and hence helped their team win the battle. The Telugu defense also put up a brilliant performance as they played a crucial role against the Steelers.
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