The Telugu Titans secured important points in the PKL Season 12 match at the SMS Indoor Stadium in Jaipur on Tuesday after defeating the Gujarat Giants 30-29 in a tough match.
Despite Mohammadreza Shadloui’s super-sub effort, Bharat Hooda’s nine points and Vijay Malik’s seven points allowed them to win by the narrowest of margins.
Malik gave the Telugu Titans the lead in the first raid. They rapidly increased their lead, scoring two more points in the following two minutes to grab a 3-0 advantage. Visvanth V’s successful raid put the Giants on the scoreboard.
Aryavardhan Navale’s powerful tackle scored the Giants a vital point and closed the gap to 3-6, but they were still behind 2-6. The Titans, however, reacted right away and increased their lead to 7-3 prior to the first-half timeout.
The Giants had a strong start to the second phase, scoring a point immediately following the break thanks to a strong tackle by Sumit. Soon after, Navale launched a successful raid, cutting the deficit to 5-7.
However, the Titans quickly retaliated with a successful raid of their own to keep the advantage. Despite the Titans’ edge, the Giants remained resilient and prevented the gap from widening.
Once more, Navale scored with a cunning raid to tie the game at 9–10, but Lucky Sharma’s powerful tackle tied the score at 10–10. With a strong response in the last few minutes of the half, the Titans took back control and led 12–10 at the half.
With consecutive scores to even the game at 12-12, the Giants got off to a fast start in the second half. After entering as a substitute, Shadloui was instrumental, and Rohit Nandal’s outstanding tackle gave the Giants a narrow lead. With three points in the first three minutes of the half, Shadloui maintained his dominance.
The Giants’ defense also came through, putting on a spectacular display to put the Titans through a mental ordeal and jump ahead 18–14. The Giants maintained their lead as the second-half time out was sounded, despite the Titans’ best efforts to rally and close the gap.
With a successful raid by Bharat, the Telugu Titans cut the deficit to 20-21 following the resumption. With just over six minutes remaining, they won 24-23 after quickly turning the tide of the match with an all-out.
Malik then added to their momentum with a successful raid that gave the Titans two more points and stretched their lead to three.
Shadloui responded for the Giants with a pivotal raid, reducing the gap to 24-26. But in the last moments, the Titans were in full force. With three minutes left, they took a five-point lead and maintained composure to win a close game.
