Ganesha Hanamantagol snatched the victory from the jaws of the Telugu Titans after a spectacular Super Raid in the final seconds of their clash at the SMS Indoor Stadium in Jaipur in Monday’s second game.
He played the perfect supporting role to Alireza Mirzaian’s super 10, and scored seven points after coming off the bench as his side moved above the Titans to fourth on the points table. The opening 10 minutes of the Southern Derby was a cagey affair, with both sides going toe-to-toe.
Early raids from Akash Shinde and Bharat gave the Bulls momentum, while Deepak Sankar and Yogesh ensured their tackles kept the Titans in check. Successful tackles by Avi Duhan and Shubham Shinde kept the Telugu Titans within touching distance, but Akash Shinde’s aggressive raiding and Satyappa Matti’s timely defensive effort gave the Bulls the edge.
With the scoreboard reading 6-5, the contest was still wide open, promising a gripping battle ahead. The Telugu Titans seized control in the second quarter with an aggressive burst, led by Vijay Malik’s game-changing multi-point raid that ousted Deepak Sankar and Ganesha.
Bharat backed it up with sharp raids, while Ajit Pawar and Ankit tightened the defence to keep the Bulls’ raiders quiet. The season 6 champions did push back, but the Titans landed the heavier punches. Bharat’s early raid successes and Vijay’s raid mastery helped them nose ahead, even as the Bulls countered with timely tackles from Yogesh and Deepak.
By halftime, the Titans had edged 14-11 in front, leaving the contest delicately poised for a fiery second half. The all-out was quickly inflicted on the Bengaluru Bulls at the start of the second half after a successful tackle by Shubham Shinde on Pankaj was followed by the skipper taking down Deepak.
Vijay then came into his own with aggressive raiding, scoring three straight successful raids before finally being stopped by Yogesh. Alireza Mirzaian tried to keep his team alive with multiple successful raids, but to no avail, as the Titans kept their noses in front throughout the third quarter.
He found support in Ganesha, but on the other end of the mat, Bharat also joined the party, picking off the likes of Yogesh and Satyappa. With 10 minutes left, the scoreboard read 24-19 in favour of the Titans, as they hoped to run away with the victory, but fate had other plans.
With seven minutes left on the clock, Ajit Pawar was given a yellow card after a brilliant raid from Alireza, giving life to the Bulls’ comeback. The Iranian got Sagar in the very next raid, leaving just Vijay on the mat, with the Titans skipper tackled by Sahil Rane.
This impressive set of moves reduced the deficit to just one point, which was once again earned by Alireza as the scores were levelled at 27-27. Bharat completed his super 10 to put his team back in the lead as the lead seesawed between the two South Indian heavyweights in the final minutes of the match.
In this moment, Alireza got yet another super 10, with a multi-point raid, as he gave his team the lead. The edge-of-the-seat thriller clash saw the Titans take the lead yet again after Bharat got a bonus point, but the season 6 champions were not done just yet.
In what was the last raid of the match – a super raid – Ganesha wrestled back the game in the dying seconds to win their fourth straight match in what turned out to be an exciting end to the Southern Derby.