Chennai
After failing to cross the finish line in each of its six home games in 2017, the Thalaivas got going right at the start of the new season, much to the delight of the faithful who thronged the arena.
Captain Ajay Thakur stole the show with his raiding prowess, collecting a match-winning tally of 14 points, becoming the first player to achieve ‘Super 10’ in PKL 6.
Pardeep Narwal fought a lone battle for the three-time title holder, getting 11 points.
While the Thakur-led outfit looked a completely different unit from last season, the Pirates was a pale shadow of itself as compared to the previous edition. The home side ran away with the contest in the early stages of the match, inflicting the first all-out within the first 10 minutes.
The roar from the home fans went up a notch when PO Surjeet Singh racked up the first super raid of the season. Jasvir Singh was expected to play second fiddle to Ajay for the Thalaivas, but it was Surjeet who filled the role of the second lead raider.
There was huge gulf between the two teams going into the half-time break, with the Chennai-based franchise having an 18-point edge as the scores were locked at 26-8.
The Pirates failed to collect a single tackle point in the opening 20 minutes, banking hugely on Pardeep to do the damage control with his raids.
The host started from where it left off, cleaning up the Pirates for the third time, right at the start of the final half.
It managed to stop the Patna franchise from making a comeback, chipping in with points then and there, eventually settling for its first home win in PKL history.
“Ajay was phenomenal and hope he carries this form for the rest of the season. Team co-ordination was something we worked on in our pre-season, which we lacked last year. The camp is feeling relaxed now, having notched up a win on the first day,” said Edachery Bhaskaran, coach of Tamil Thalaivas. Thalaivas went in with three specialist raiders in Ajay, Jasvir and Surjeet. Sukesh Hegde failed to find a place even on the bench.
In the second encounter of the day, U Mumba played out a tie with Puneri Paltan. Both teams scored 32 points each.
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