Gujarat outclass Hyderabad in PKL contest

Zone A team Gujarat Fortunegiants outclassed Telugu Titans 29-18 in a lopsided inter-zone Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) contest at Trasstadia Arena here on Wednesday to further strengthen their top spot in the group standings.

For Gujarat, Sachin (10 points) continued his fine form from the previous matches along with defenders Fazel Atrachali (3 points) and Abozar Mighani (4 points) to help their side win by 11-point margin and register their fifth consecutive win on a trot in home leg.

While Hyderabad displayed a failed all-round show, with substitute Vinoth Kumar (4 points) and defender Vishal Bharadwaj (2 points) being the key performers for their side.

After initial empty raids from both the sides, Vikas broke the deadlock for Telugu Titans taking a two-point advantage off his successful tackle.

But soon, the Hyderabad outfit looked to have lost momentum in the match which resulted in back-to-back empty raids and failed tackles.

For Gujarat Fortunegiants skipper Sukesh Hedge and Sachin pulled one points a piece from their successful raids to bring back the home side on level terms and further give them a 5-3 advantage in the seventh minute of the match.

Sachin maintained his speed, agility and movement to pull off a super raid to further strengthen the home side's position, taking a massive 14-3 lead with less than nine minutes to play in the first-half.

The home side also looked strong on their defence disallowing the opposition to break free helping Gujarat take a massive 20-7 lead in the first-half.

The second-half began with Hyderabad captain Rahul Chaudhari pulling out some successful raid points, along with defender Vishal Bharadwaj and Sombir combining well to narrow the points margin through their successful tackles but failed to take the lead.

While for Gujarat, Sachin continued his fine form to complete a Super 10 from his successful raids. Defenders Abozar Mighani and Fazel Atrachali too kept on picking vital tackle points inside their half to keep the scoreboard ticking and maintain the lead for the home side.

--IANS

sam/nir