Welcome to Sportstar’s coverage of the Pro Kabaddi League. This is Nihit Sachdeva and I will be taking you through today’s PKL 8 match between Bengal Warriors and Telugu Titans.

32-32: Ankit Beniwal runs down the clock and it is a tie.

32-32: Do-or-die raid for Maninder and he has been taken down by Akash. Twenty one seconds left.

32-31: Ankit Beniwal with a crucial raid. He gets the bonus as well as the touch point due to a failed ankle hold by Ran Singh.

32-29: Rajnish picks up a bonus but a yellow card for arguing with the officials. His game’s done as there’s hardly a minute left.

32-28: Nabibakhsh picks up a bonus.

31-28: ALL OUT!!! Sub Galla Raju wins the bonus but then gets mobbed by the Warriors defence.

28-27: Two TT players on the mat and the error comes from Adarsh. Maninder gets the touch point and the Titans are down to one man.

Final strategic time out. Five minutes to go and it is even stevens.

27-27: Adarsh picks up a bonus.

27-26: Do-or-die raid for Manoj Gowda and he returns with two touch points. Akash on the right corner went for the ankle hold and failed. Sandeep was sort of coming for the assist but then wanted to stop midway. However, it was too late and Manoj got one more touch point.

25-26: Brutal! A flying block on Ankit, who was in for the do-or-die raid, by all-rounder Rohit.

24-26: SUPER 10 FOR MANINDER!!! The Bengal skipper first picked up a bonus and then a touch point as well after Surinder’s ankle hold failed.

22-26: Ran Singh provides the touch point on a platter to Ankit after breaking from the chain with Maninder.

First strategic time out. Ten minutes to go and Telugu Titans lead 25-22.

21-25: Manoj Gowda is off to the bench too. The Titans defence is charged.

21-24: Nabibakhsh with an uncharacteristic error. The Iranian went for the block on Ankit but the raider reached safety.

21-23: Maninder is single-handedly keeping his team in the game. Sandeep’s ankle hold was decent but the block from Arun wasn’t.

19-21: SUPER RAID!!!! Maninder Singh, you beauty! The Bengal skipper picked up a touch point apart from a touch point due to an attempted ankle hold by Ankit. He then got one more as he turned his shoulder to deceiver Surinder who came up with the dash.

16-21: The Titans are turning this around. Rohit goes back to the bench after an unsuccessful raid.

16-20: Weird defending from Abozar and Rajnish just pushes his face away to take the touch point and walk back to his side of the mat.

16-18: Rohit goes in for the raid, takes the bonus and the touch point too courtesy of a failed dash from Ankit.

14-18: ALL OUT!!! What a big raid for Ankit although he didn’t have to do much! Abozar and Manoj had stepped out of bounds leaving only one other player on the mat and Ankit had no problem in taking the touch point.

14-13: Wow!! Surinder sees that Maninder is a tad slow and pushes him off the mat with a brilliant dash.

To be honest, Telugu Titans has been the better side in the first 20 minutes but is somehow still trailing Bengal Warriors by two points. I guess that sums up its season. So near yet so far.

HALF-TIME: Bengal Warriors 14-12 Telugu Titans

14-12: Final raid of the first half and it is a do-or-die one for Telugu Titans. Adarsh T takes the responsibility and waits for the error from Bengal defence since there is no bonus on offer. Eventually, Ran Singh comes up with the dash and takes him down. However, Adarsh’s head is across the mid-line.

14-11: Akash Choudhary goes for the solo tackle on Maninder but the Warriors skipper is too good to be stopped by something like that.

13-11: SUPER TACKLE!!!! Another one for Bengal. Rajnish tries for a touch on Ran Singh on the left corner and then Abozar and Manoj come from the other side for the block to take him down. Telugu Titans loses its review saying that Ran Singh had stepped out of bounds before Rajnish touched him.

11-11: Do-or-die raid for Bengal, sub Rohit goes in and takes the bonus. However, he wants more and the greed proves to be his downfall as Surinder pushes him off the mat.

10-10: SUPER TACKLE!!! Abozar Mighani comes up with a clutch ankle hold to take down Adarsh T.

8-10: Nabibakhsh goes in for the raid and it is Ankit Beniwal who comes in with the thigh hold first. Sandeep and others follow soon and the Iranian is flat on the mat.

8-9: Ankit keeps it going. A running back kick on Akash Pikalmunde.

8-8: Smart. Ankit Beniwal with a perfect toe touch sends Maninder to the bench.

8-7: Rajnish? Okay. Rajnish tries the back hold on Nabibakhsh but fails.

7-7: Adarsh T comes for the next raid and gets blocked by Akash who looks like he has taken a knock to his face.

6-7: Manoj Gowda picks up the bonus but post that gets sandwiched by the TT defenders.

Akash Pikalmunde comes on for Sukesh Hegde.

5-6: Another error from C. Arun who went for the block but Sukesh Hegde made it to the mid-line. However, Sukesh is limping and those are not good signs for Bengal.

4-6: Beautiful combination tackle from Surinder and Sandeep to take down Maninder. That is what it takes to stop the mighty raider of Bengal.

4-4: Manoj Gowda gets trapped in the ankle hold of the right corner after picking the bonus. However, he wins one more point despite being tackled as C. Arun went off the mat completely.

2-3: Rajnish picks up a bonus.

2-2: Unnecessary dash from Ankit to push Maninder off the mat. The raider walks back with the gifted touch point.

1-2: Sandeep Kandola with a massive block takes down Sukesh Hegde.

1-1: Ankit Beniwal comes for the first raid for Titans and gets a touch point of Rohit Banne who was out of position.

1-0: Maninder Singh comes in for the opening raid and walks back with a bonus.

———

TOSS – Telugu Titans wins the toss and selects left side of court. Bengal Warriors to raid first.

LINE UPS!

Telugu Titans: Sandeep Khandola, Surinder Singh, Rajnish, Ankit Beniwal, Manish, Prince, Akash Choudhary

Bengal Warriors: Maninder Singh,Manoj Gowda, Ravindra Kumawat, Mohammad Nabibakhsh, Abozar Mighani, Ran Singh, Parveen Satpal

8-25pm: The Telugu Titans succumbed to a 39-35 loss against U.P. Yoddha in its previous outing, its fourth defeat in five matches. Rajnish had a good outing and finished the game with 13 points, while Ankit Beniwal and Adarsh played good supporting roles and notched six points each. The Titans will want to give its young roster as many opportunities as possible in its remaining six games to evaluate them with an eye towards next season. While the Titans don’t have much to play for, it will want to finish the season with as many wins as possible and will likely give the Warriors a tough time on Monday.

8-20pm: The Bengal Warrior’s 38-29 loss last night was its third on the trot, and the reigning champion has now slumped to 11th on the points table. Skipper Maninder Singh had a rare off night, finishing with only four points. The defence had a horrendous outing, as they gave up 22 raid points while picking up only three tackle points. The Warriors’ score difference is -46, meaning they will not only have to win most, if not all, of their remaining five matches, they’ll also have to beat their opponents by a considerable margin. The signs are looking ominous for the Warriors, and it can no longer afford any slip-ups in its quest to retain the title.

8-15pm: Bengal Warriors vs Telugu Titans head-to-head

Played: 17

Bengal Warriors-10

Telugu Titans: 3

Tie-4

8-10pm: In case if you’re new to this sport, here’s a simple explainer that covers all the rules of the game and the various terms such as ‘All Out’, ‘Do-or-die’ and ‘Super Tackle’- 

8pm: Good evening and welcome to our live coverage of the second and final PKL 8 match of the day between Bengal Warriors and Telugu Titans. But before that, here’s a recap of what happened last night in the PKL over the last fortnight-