Tamil Thalaivas edge past Gujarat Fortunegiants in PKL-5

Captain Ajay Thakur produced a remarkable performance in the last five minutes as Tamil Thalaivas pulled off a miraculous victory to beat Gujarat Fortunegiants 35-34 in the fifth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex here on Tuesday.

Till the last couple of minutes, Thalaivas didn't look like winning the match but Thakur scored three raid points in the last minute to lead his team to victory.

Thakur ended with 13 points and was supported by Prapanjan who contributed nine points. Sachin scored 11 points for Gujarat.

Gujarat are top of the table in Zone A with 61 points from 16 matches while Thalaivas are bottom of the table in Zone B with 28 points from 13 matches.

The first few minutes of the match saw teams exchanging raid and tackle points. Prapanjan's super raid in the fourth minute gave the Thalaivas a 5-3 lead.

Sachin scored two points in two minutes to give Gujarat a 6-5 lead after six minutes. It was one-way traffic in the next couple of minutes as Gujarat piled on the points and inflicted an all out in the 11th minute to lead 13-6.

Thakur got into the act for Tamil Thalaivas and scored two points in the next two minutes as they trailed 9-16 in the 15th minute. Both teams' defence had a quiet first half as they managed just five tackle points.

Thakur and Prapanjan were the main scorers for the Thalaivas in the first half. For Gujarat, Sachin led the scoring charts in the first as half as they led 20-13 at the breather.

Coming back, Gujarat began strongly and scored three points in three minutes to lead 23-13 after 23 minutes. Another all out was inflicted by Gujarat in the 25th minute as they stretched their lead to 27-15.

The Thalaivas never looked like threatening Gujarat's domination in the second half. All they could do was to reduce the defeat margin. After 30

minutes it was 30-20 in Gujarat Fortunegiants' favour and looked on course for a comfortable victory.

The Thalaivas turned the match on its head in the final five minutes. They were trailing by massive 10 points as the score was 33-23 in Gujarat's favour.

Thakur scored two raid points in two minutes as Thalaivas reduced the margin to 28-34 in the 38th minute. An all out was inflicted in the same minute as Thalaivas trailed 31-34.

In the dying minutes of the match, Thakur used all his experience to score three raid points and help the Thalaivas to a narrow win.

--IANS

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