By 
At the Dome, NSCI SVP Stadium, Mumbai, on Tuesday, the Tamil Thalaivas defeated the U.P. Yoddhas 6-4 in the tiebreaker to advance to the Semi-Finals. The undisputed heroes of the Thalaivas’ victory were the raiding team of Narender (13 points) and Ajinkya Pawar (10 points).
The Thalaivas were the first team this season to win the toss and decide to raid, and a close first half ensued. As they quickly built a 4-0 lead, it appeared that the choice had been made with a strategy in mind. Narender’s raids were expertly complemented by a strong defence.
Throughout the first half, the raider persisted in being a threat, consistently recording touchpoints to keep the Yoddhas depleted.
The Yoddhas’ Pardeep Narwal and Surender Gill combination struggled, scoring just five points combined in the first half. With the Yoddhas down to three, it took a SUPER TACKLE by Ashu Singh on Ajinkya Pawar to prevent an all-out.
But just before the half was over, Narender returned, stopping Sandeep Narwal and then Gurdeep to prevent the Yoddhas from going all out. The Thalaivas were in the lead 16-14 at halftime.
The two teams were only three points apart with five minutes remaining, and the tension was palpable. With three left, Pardeep Narwal reemerged and eliminated M. Himanshu and Abishek, putting the Thalaivas in danger of going all out.
The Yoddhas obtained their first ALL OUT of the game with just over two minutes remaining to tie the score at 33 each. Narwal came up with a SUPER RAID with just a few seconds left to give the Yoddhas a two-point advantage.
The Thaialvas fought back, however, with Pawar scoring one point for them before a tackle point on Narwal with 15 seconds left brought the score even and forced a tiebreaker. The Thalaivas made a nervous reversal.
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