Pro Kabaddi 2019: Telugu Titans draw with UP Yoddha following whirlwind ending to neck-and-neck battle

Mumbai: The Telugu Titans and UP Yoddha Pro Kabaddi League match on Friday ended in a tie with both teams at 20-20. [caption id=“attachment_7101741” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Siddharth Desai in action against against UP Yoddha. Image courtesy: PKL[/caption] The two sides were locked at 19-19 with 30 seconds left for the match when Telugu’s star raider Siddharth Desai attempted the final raid. UP player Sumit went out of the mat and thus Telugu got a crucial point and had almost won the game on 20-19 before an unexpected thing happened. Desai’s teammates entered the mat before the final whistle was blown, resulting in UP being given a “technical point” by match officials, leading to the match ending as a tie. Earlier, raider Siddharth Desai collected two points as Telugu were 2-1 ahead. But in the sixth minute, UP removed Siddharth as he went in for an unsuccessful raid to reduce the gap to 3-5. But within seconds, Siddharth was back on the field, after UP raider was successfully tackled by Telugu Titans even as the southern team surged 7-3 ahead. A successful raid by Monu Goyat and two successful tackles helped UP to reduce the deficit to 6-7 in the 12th minute. The two teams were locked in a neck and neck battle, even as Telugu inched ahead to 9-7. But with some good tackles and raids, UP made it 11-11 going into the break. Telugu began the second half with a successful tackle to go 12-11 ahead, but UP pulled back one to make it 12-12. UP raider Shrikant Jadhav failed under pressure as Telugu picked up a point to make it 13-12. But even Telugu star raider Siddharth faltered again as UP collected a point to make it 13-13. With just 9 minutes to go, the two sides were locked at 15-15. However, a couple of successful tackles and with Siddharth picking up a point, Telugu moved 18-15 ahead. But a timely Super Tackle by UP Yoddha followed by a successful raid helped UP Yoddha again level the scores at 18 -18. Both the teams successfully tackled their opponent player as the scores were levelled at 19-19 before the drama unfolded.