The Telugu Titans were in fine form and put in a brilliant performance against the Patna Pirates on Monday, at the GMCB Indoor Stadium, in Gachibowli, in Hyderabad during PKL Season 11. Led by Pawan Sehrawat, the Telugu Titans won the game with the scoreline at 28-26. It was the Telugu Titans’ second win of PKL Season 11. For the Telugu Titans, Ashish Narwal scored 9 points and Pawan Sehrawat added 5 more to the cause.
It was a cautious start with neither the Patna Pirates nor the Telugu Titans taking chances in the early minutes. And while the Patna Pirates had a two-point lead in the initial minutes, the Telugu Titans picked up their first points through Ashish Narwal in the fourth minute. For the Patna Pirates, it was Devank and Ayan making the most impact in the early phase of play.
Midway through the first half, the Patna Pirates had a slender 1-point lead with the score at 6-5 in their favour. For the Telugu Titans, Vijay Malik was leading the way at that point. Slowly but surely, the Patna Pirates, who are three-time champions, moved into a 3-point lead, with 3 minutes left in the first half. By the end of the first half, the Patna Pirates led 13-10.
After the break, Pawan Sehrawat and the Telugu Titans sprang into action, reducing the deficit to one-point in the early exchanges, before Vijay Malik brought things to level terms on 14-14 with 14 minutes left in the game. While Devank tried his best to keep the Patna Pirates in the lead, Ashish Narwal and the Telugu Titans landed an ALL OUT, and they stormed into the lead with 10 minutes left on the clock.
As the final game progressed, the two sides cranked up the intensity and were trading points and raids, such that the difference between them stood at 1-point with 5 minutes to go. That’s when Ashish Narwal scored a Super Raid, which gave the Telugu Titans some breathing space.
Ayan bounced back with a crisp raid right after for the Patna Pirates, which put the game on a knife edge with a couple of minutes to go. However, the Telugu Titans held on with some fierce individual performances, that got them the much-needed win.