New Delhi: Tamil Thalaivas won the opening match of the season against hosts Telugu Titans at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium on August 29, Friday. Pawan Sehrawat led the team from front to extend their record over Southern rivals and won the game by 38-35. He saved his best for the last moments of the match, scoring a super raid to seal the game for his side.
Arjun Deshwal opened the account of Thalaivas in season 12 with a bonus point in the second raid of the match. The raider also scored the first touch point of the season by dismissing Bharat Hooda in his second raid.
Titans were trailing in the match as they didn’t score a single point in the first three minutes of the game. Thalaivas were slightly ahead of Titans after the first half with a 14-13 score.
Thalaivas skipper Pawan Sehrawat failed miserably in the first half as he attempted seven raids but failed to score a single point. But his raiding partner, Arjun Deshwal, was scoring points at regular intervals and ended the first half with seven raid points.
Tamil Thalaivas stage stunning comeback in second half
In the second half, hosts dominated the initial moments and forced the first all-out of the season on Thalaivas and extended their lead to 19-14. Titans slowly took charge, with Hooda notching the first Super 10 of the season.
Sehrawat finally scored his first raid point of season two on his ninth attempt. After scoring his first raid point, the skipper helped his side to make a comeback in the game by levelling the score at 28-28, with just five minutes remaining in the match.
After that, Thalaivas forced an all-out on Titans and took a two-point lead in the final moments of the game. Skipper Sehrawat scored a super raid in the last minute and took his team over the line.
Deshwal scored a Super 10 in the first match itself, and he was also the leading scorer in the season’s opening game. Sehrawat also finished the match with nine points, including seven raid points.