PKL: Ashish shines as Haryana Steelers beat Tamil Thalaivas

All-rounder
Ashish
had
a
night
to
remember,
picking
up
16
points
(including
3
tackle
points)
and
helping
his
Steelers
team
overcome
a
tough
Thalaivas
unit
to
jump
to
second
on
the
points
table.
Ashish
was
supported
well
by
his
captain
Vikash
Kandola
with
8
points.

Coach
Rakesh
Kumar
didn’t
even
have
to
use
the
likes
of
Meetu
and
Rohit
Gulia
from
the
bench
as
his
Haryana
team
once
again
showed
why
they
are
rated
amongst
the
best.

Haryana
started
the
match
on
the
front
foot
with
their
cover
defender
duo
of
Jaideep
and
Mohit
in
form.
There
was
no
place
for
Surender
Nada
in
the
Haryana
starting
line-up
as
coach
Rakesh
Kumar
brought
in
Akshay.

Together,
they
kept
the
Tamil
raiders
away
while
at
the
other
end
Vikash
Kandola
and
Vinay
brought
the
points.
The
Steelers
got
their
first
ALL
OUT
in
the
7th
minute
to
open
an
8-point
lead.
But
the
Thalaivas
slowly
made
a
comeback
through
their
raiders
Ajinkya
Pawar
and
Manjeet.

The
former
was
impressive
in
Do-or-Die
situations
which
helped
Thalaivas
end
the
first
half
on
a
positive
note.
The
scores
were
15-12
in
favour
of
the
Steelers
at
the
interval.

Unfortunately,
for
the
Tamil
team,
they
could
not
convert
that
momentum
into
an
ALL
OUT
as
Haryana
fought
back
in
the
second
half.
Ajinkya
Pawar
kept
picking
up
points
for
Thalaivas,
but
Ashish’s
3-point
Super
Raid
close
to
the
5th
minute
after
restart
shifted
the
balance
once
again
to
the
Steelers.
They
maintained
a
5-point
with
10
minutes
remaining
in
the
match.

Thalaivas’ Surjeet
Singh
and
Ajinkya
Pawar
combined
to
produce
a
Super
Tackle
with
6
minutes
remaining
to
make
it
a
2-point
game.
But
Ashish
first
produced
a
tackle
on
Ajinkya
Pawar
and
then
got
a
valuable
raid
point
to
help
Haryana
clinch
another
ALL
OUT
with
5
minutes
remaining.
That
opened
the
lead
to
6
points
once
again.

Just
as
Thalaivas
sensed
another
comeback,
Ashish
produced
a
3-point
Super
Raid
to
widen
the
lead
to
6
points
with
under
3
minutes
remaining.
He
picked
his
Super
10
and
then
secured
another
3-point
Super
Raid
in
the
final
move
of
the
match
to
secure
the
win
for
the
Steelers.
The
careless
defending
by
Thalaivas
in
the
final
raid
means
they
walked
away
with
no
points
from
the
encounter.

Source:
PKL
Media