New Delhi: Telugu Titans ended Patna Pirates' dream run after securing an all-important 46-39 win in Eliminator 3 of the Pro Kabaddi League here on Tuesday.
Led by the ever-present Bharat Hooda's 23 points, the Titans will now face season 10 champions Puneri Paltan on Wednesday night for a spot in the final.
On the other end of the mat, it was yet another exceptional performance from young Ayan Lohchab, who created his own piece of history after becoming the first PKL raider to score 20+ points in six games in a single season.
He finished the season with 316 raid points to his name, 132 points more than he scored in PKL 11 (184) as he played a crucial role in the Pirates' eight-match winning run to the Eliminator 3.
A high-paced start from both teams saw them exchange points early on. Ayan was tackled in his very first raid, while Vijay Malik was stopped in the very next move.
Soon after, however, the Pirates took early control, led by none other than Ayan Lohchab. He secured a two-point raid with touches on Ankit and Praful Zaware, and then picked up another touch off Shubham Shinde as well.
A tackle on Titans skipper Vijay by Navdeep inflicted the first ALL OUT of the match just six minutes in. Bharat kept the pressure on the Titans after the ALL OUT, registering a two-point raid on Balaji D and Deepak.
After a series of empty raids, Ankit Rana added a touch point to extend the Pirates' lead to four points at the end of the first quarter, with the score reading 13-9.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
