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Indian Sports Highlights, December 7: Chennaiyin drop points, Pirates end Giants' winning run

Jamshedpur FC take on Chennaiyin FC. Dipayan Bose/Focus Sports/ISL

ESPN India's daily live blog is your handy guide for everything to do with the wide world of Indian sport. We have the latest updates and analysis from the entire bouquet of Olympic and franchise sports with an Indian bent. The blog is updated throughout the day, so keep checking back to catch up on news you may have missed.

Here are all the key updates from December 7, Thursday:


PKL10 has its first tie, Giants' winning streak ends

Defending champions Jaipur Pink Panthers and Bengal Warriors played out the first tie of the season as they finished locked at 28 points each. Surprisingly, neither Arjun Deshwal not Maninder Singh managed to get Super 10s and the Pink Panthers' raider Bhavani Rajput finished with 10 points. They will also take joy from the fact that Ankush Rathee, last season's best defender, bagged four points after a poor start in the first game.

In the second match of the evening, three-time champs Patna Pirates ended Gujarat Giants' winning spree as they clinched a 33-30 win. Sudhakar M was the Pirates' raider of the game as he picked up six points, while skipper Neeraj Narwal collected four tackle points. Rakesh HS scored 11 raid points for the Giants, but their star raider, Sonu Jaglan, failed to get going today and managed just the one point.


Chennaiyin squander 2-0 lead to draw with Jamshedpur

Chennaiyin FC took the lead in the ninth minute through Farukh Choudhary and Ninthoi Meetei made it 2-0 to Owem Coyle's men in the 40th, but Jamshedpur FC struck back Laldinpuia at the stroke of half-time. Jamshedpur, Coyle's former team, found yet another late goal as Daniel Chima Chukwu scored in the 90th minute to draw level. The result sees Chennaiyin FC miss a chance to climb the further up the table move up a spot to #7, while Jamshedpur remain rooted at #10.


What's in store for today?

Franchise sport takes centre-stage as we have regular in-season action.

Two former champions of the Indian Super League, Jamshedpur FC and Chennaiyin FC face off in the ISL but the duo are tenth and eighth in the table respectively and are battling it out not to lose pace in the playoff race. They kick off at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur at 8pm.

Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad leg of Pro Kabaddi League continues apace as the Gujarat Giants, who have begun their PKL season with three wins in front of their home crowd, face up to the Patna Pirates, who demolished the Telugu Titans in their opener. The Bengal Warriors and the Jaipur Pink Panthers face off in the other tie.

Speaking of Ahmedabad, their volleyball franchise might not be in action in the FIVB Men's Club World Championships in Bengaluru today, but the Defenders' absence is more than made up for by a first look at two of the strongest teams - Sada Cruzeiro Volei of Brazil (who face Suntory Sunbirds) and Sir Sicoma Perugia of Italy (who face Itambe Minas). For the lowdown on this tournament, we have you covered. If you're curious about what it means for Indian volleyball, well it's more than the stuff of dreams.

There's also the I-League, where Real Kashmir can draw level with second-placed Sreenidi Deccan with a win at home, while bottom-placed TRAU host Aizawl FC.


What happened yesterday?

  • Armando Sadiku scored an injury-time equaliser to rescue a point for Mohun Bagan SG at home to Odisha FC (2-2) after an Ahmed Jahouh brace put the visitors in control in the first half.

  • The UP Yoddhas eased past the Haryana Steelers (57-27) and the Patna Pirates thrashed the Telugu Titans despite Pawan Sehrawat's best efforts (50-28).

  • Ahmedabad Defenders put up a spirited showing in their FIVB Men's Club Championship debut but lost to Itambe Minas, going down in straight sets 22-25, 23-25, 19-25.

You can check all the details of yesterday's news events here.