Ahmedabad: Ajay Thakur roared back to form as Tamil Thalaivas notched up a 34-28 win over Gujarat Fortunegiants in the Pro Kabaddi League here on Saturday.
Ajay scored nine touchpoints for his side while Mohit Chhillar led the defence with a High 5 and was ably supported by Manjeet Chhillar who scored four tackle points. Sunil Kumar scored a High 5 for Gujarat Fortunegiants but was unable to keep Tamil Thalaivas from clinching victory in the closing minutes.
Gujarat Fortunegiants got off to a 4-1 lead through their raiders Sachin and Harmanjit Singh. But Ajay got a touchpoint on his counterpart Sachin which kick-started a successful run for Tamil Thalaivas, ultimately ending in them levelling the scores at 5-5 in the 10th minute.
Sachin’s two-point raid gave Gujarat Fortunegiants the lead once again but Manjeet soon tackled him down to wrestle back the lead for his team. Tamil Thalaivas rode that momentum to inflict an All-Out on Gujarat just before the halftime whistle, taking a 15-10 lead in the contest.
The second half started with Gujarat getting the first point through Rohit Gulia. But a successful tackle followed by a successful raid from Rahul Chaudhari kept Tamil Thalaivas’ ahead in the contest. Three unsuccessful Do-or-Die raids by Tamil Thalaivas and Rohit Gulia’s successful touch on Manjeet brought the score difference down to just three points. Down to three men, Tamil Thalaivas first lost Rahul Chaudhari to Sumit’s Back Hold before conceding the All-Out in the 16th minute, giving the home team a one-point advantage.
As soon as Tamil Thalaivas reassembled on the mat, Manjeet started things off with a brilliant tackle on Gulia before Ajay managed to escape a chain tackle to pick up a Super Raid and give his team a big advantage with just over two minutes left on the clock. Mohit then completed his High 5 by tackling Sonu, opening the doors for another Gujarat Fortunegiants All-Out with just
seconds left in the contest. In the end, Tamil Thalaivas walked away with a victory.