Mahendra Rajput’s point in the final raid of the match led Gujarat to a 37-35 win over Tamil Thalaivas in a Pro Kabaddi Season 8 cliffhanger at the Sheraton Grand, Whitefield in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Tamil Thalaivas were well on course to register a comfortable win leading 32-26 with under five minutes of play remaining. However, substitute Pradeep Kumar's super raid shifted the momentum completely in Gujarat Giants’ favour. Pradeep then scored another point in his next raid as Gujarat managed to inflict an all-out with just over a minute left in the match. 

Tamil Thalaivas’ high line defence managed to nab Mahendra Rajput to level the scores. However, the Gujarat Giants defence stepped up to stop Manjeet from scoring in the next raid before Mahendra Rajput scored a point off the final raid to lead Gujarat to a thrilling win. 

Mahendra Rajput scored nine points including a tackle point while Sunil Kumar managed a high 5. Rakesh Narwal scored six points in the match while substitute Pradeep Kumar scored four raid points from two raids.  

For Tamil Thalaivas, Manjeet scored a super 10 with 12 raid points in the match while defender Sagar scored a high 5 with six tackle points. 

During the course of the match, Mahendra Rajput reached the milestone of 200 raid points in Pro Kabaddi.

Earlier, Gujarat Giants started the match in fine style to gain an early five-point lead within the first few minutes of the game. However, Tamil Thalaivas’ raiders managed to claw their way back to gain a slender three-point advantage to lead 17-14 at halftime.  

The win took Gujarat’s points tally to 28 in 11 matches. They are at the 10th spot in the standings. On the other hand, Tamil Thalaivas are placed at sixth place with 31 points. 

Gujarat Giants play Bengaluru Bulls next on Sunday.