Meraj Shekyh leads Telugu Titans to a historical victory against Patna Pirates
SUPERMAN MERAJ SHEKYH with two four point super raids in the match inflicted upon Patna Pirates their biggest loss to date in Season 2 of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. At the Gachibowli Stadium, their home turf, the Telugu Titans crushed their rivals 54-32 while notching the highest score this season. They fell short though of their own record of 60 points against the Puneri Paltan in the first season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. The winners were so ruthless that after inflicting the first all-out in just five minutes they also scored two more 'all-outs' prior to the half-time whistle.
From 11-5 in the 5th minute, the Titans literally rocketed to 20-5 for the next all-out within a couple of minutes. As if this was not enough the hosts carried on their merciless assault. And it came from none other than the mercurial Meraj, their captain. First he brushed aside the well-built Sandeep Narwal and then pulled another three rivals along to get to the midline. It was 29-9 and as Sandeep Kandola and Deepak Niwas Hudda came up with clean tackles the third all-out was scored in no time. The Titans were simply unstoppable.
The second super raid came soon. It was another four-pointer. It took the Titans still further. From 32-9 they moved swiftly to 38-12 at the break. Meraj had absolutely proved why the Titans paid a huge amount to acquire him. Immediately after the interval came the fourth all-out for a massive lead of 43-13 in the 21stminute, a record. It completely demoralized the Pirates who were without Rakesh Kumar their captain their most experienced hand.
The Titans march continued uninterrupted. Sukesh Hegde the man for the do-or-die raids, all-rounder Deepak Niwas Hudda who was the man of the match, toyed with the Pirates to help them cross the half-century mark. Ravi Dalal redeemed his reputation to some extent scoring 9 points in 20 raids with the bulk of them coming towards the end.
Meraj was in the thick of action till the end but blotted his copy book by getting out once for not uttering the ‘cant’. For the losers, they stay in fourth place with 20 points in eight matches. Though this huge loss has shattered their morale their chances of making it to the play-offs are still alive.
Captain Meraj Shekyh was in full praises for his team tonight. “I had a brilliant time tonight. I felt like I was playing in my home team because we came together so well. We listened to the coach and that is always great when the coach’s plans become successful. There was no communication gap which was great as well.
The current top raider in Season 2 of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi, Rahul Chaudhari was in high praise for his captain. “While the entire country has been super supportive of us, the city of Hyderabad has shown us a special kind of appreciation and we are delighted with that. We were advised by Coach Uday Kumar to play a slower game in the second half and we followed his advice perfectly which was our strategy. Meraj Shekyh has been a great captain and we are glad to have him.”
Discussing their style of play, Rahul Chaudhari acknowledged the difference in play. “Our aggressive approach was splendid. Sometimes it didn’t work but more often than not we were too quick. Our intent in an aggressive approach is paying off. We truly believe that we can reach the final now with the form that we are in right now. Personally, I too believe that we are kicking into our best form right now, which is a good sign for the team.”
