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Thalaivas led the way in both raid and tackle points, but the additional all-out that Pirates inflicted helped it draw level in the contest. The beginning of the first half was an offensive showdown, with both teams just managing one tackle point each in the first 13 minutes. However, Ajay Thakur and Manjeet Chhillar were the only successful raiders for Thalaivas, managing four touch points as opposed to Pirates’ five.

Reduced to two men on the mat in the 15th minute, Thalaivas’ defenders weren’t able to avoid giving Pardeep a touch point and a successful tackle on D Pradap helped Pirates inflict the first all-Out on Thalaivas. It gave the three-time champion a five-point edge at 13-8.

Ajay started things off nicely for Thalaivas once it reassembled by getting consecutive touch points. A block by Manjeet Chhillar on Pardeep in a ‘Do-or-Die’ raid brought down the deficit to three points. A successful raid by Ajay followed by a dash on Deepak Narwal reduced the gap to two at half-time, with the scores favouring Patna 16-14. Ajay helped Thalaivas inflict an all-out early in the second half and take a 19-17 lead. This was followed by a tackle that sent Pardeep Narwal to the bench. A two-point raid by Sukesh Hegde gave Thalaivas open up a five-point lead.

Pirates then slowly made its way back into the contest through Manjeet, who dashed Ajay out of bounds to bring Thalaivas down to three men on the mat. However, a ‘Super tackle’ by D Pradap, which was well backed up by Sukesh, stopped the Pirates’ charge, with the scores still favouring Thalaivas by three points.

Facing another ‘Super tackle’, Pirates managed to send Pradap to the bench after Pardeep Narwal’s raid, but couldn’t avoid a ‘Super tackle’ on Manjeet. However, the all-Out was finally inflicted in the 35th minute and catapulted Pirates into the lead at 30-29. The match stayed close from there as Thalaivas kept taking the lead, &but Pirates immediately struck back when it went to raid.

Pardeep’s two-point raid, which brought up his ‘Super 10’, gave Pirates the lead, but Ajay returned a two-point raid of his own to get the lead back on Thalaivas’ side. Pardeep’s last raid for Pirates levelled the scores at 35-35 and Ajay then put in an empty raid as both sides settled for a tie.

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