PKL: UP play 25-25 draw with Thalaivas

Panchkula, Dec 15: UP Yoddha and Tamil Thalaivas played out a thrilling 25-25 tie in a tense encounter of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) here on Saturday.

Prashanth Kumar Rai's successful raid in the last minute clinched the tie for UP Yoddha's. Rai was also the top scorer as he picked up 12 raid points. 

Tamil Thalaivas would be disappointed in the end as they had the chance to win the match. Ajay Thakur top scored for Thalaivas with six points whereas Amit Hooda got a high five. 

Tamil Thalaivas got off to a quick start as Ajay and Athul MS picked up raid points and led 5-1 after four minutes. UP Yoddha responded through Prashanth as he scored three raid points in two minutes to level the match at 5-5. The next few minutes of the match were closely contested as both teams traded raid and tackle points. 

After 15 minutes, UP Yoddha held a slender one-point advantage to lead 10-9. A super tackle in the 18th minute gave Tamil Thalaivas the edge as they went into the break leading 13-10.

The second half followed the pattern of the earlier half with both teams unable to hold on to a lead. Tamil Thalaivas led 16-13 after 25 minutes but UP Yoddha cut that lead to just one point in the 28th minute. 

Nitesh Kumar was in fine defensive form as he sent back Thalaivas raiders to the bench regularly. With just over five minutes to go, D Pradap made a two-point raid to give Thalaivas 21-19 lead. Prashanth's two-point raid in the 37th minute reduced the gap to just one point. 

It was a tense finish as Pardap made a successful raid in the 39th minute and Prashanth also scored a point with the score 25-24 in Thalaivas' favour. Rai made a successful raid in the dying seconds to tie the match at 25-25.