Telugu Titans, Bengaluru Bulls draw PKL-5 contest

Telugu Titans and Bengaluru Bulls played out a dramatic 26-26 tie in a Zone B clash of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 5 here on Saturday.

The Titans came back strongly in the final five minutes after trailing for the major part of the match with skipper Rahul Chaudhari scoring eight points, and also becoming the first player to score 600 raid points in the Pro Kabaddi League. Titans' defence forced as many as four super tackles to claw their way back into the match.

Rohit Kumar scored eight points for the Bulls, placed fifth on the table with 32 points from 14 matches. The Titans are fourth in Zone B with 33 points from 17 matches.

It was a slow start from both teams as it was 1-1 after three minutes before Rahul scored his first raid point in the fourth minute to help Titans lead 2-1.

Ajay Kumar scored with a two-point raid in the next minute as Bengaluru Bulls led 3-2 before Rohit made a successful raid in the seventh minute to extend their lead to 5-2.

The Titans forced a super tackle in the eighth minute to level the scores at 5-5 before forcing another in the 10th minute to lead 7-6.

The Bulls came back to level the scores with two tackle points in the next two minutes as the scoreboard read 9-9 in the 15th minute. The Bulls then inflicted an all out in the next minute to lead 13-10.

Rahul created history by reaching his 600th raid point of the PKL as Titans trailed 12-15 at half time.

Coming back, the Bulls led 19-14 in the 25th minute, thanks to Rohit's raid point. Ajay made a two-point raid in the 30th minute to take the lead to 22-16.

But the Titans bounced back strongly by forcing another super tackle in the 32nd minute to trail 18-24. The Titans defence were dealing in super tackles as they made another one in the 34th minute to cut the deficit to four points.

Ajay made another successful raid in the 36th minute to help the Bulls extend it to 26-21 but the Titans forced another super tackle in the 39th minute to bring down the deficit to 24-26.

In the dying minutes of the match, the Titans tied the match at 26-26 in dramatic style as the Bulls failed to score with a do-or-die raid.

--IANS

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