The highly-anticipated Pro Kabaddi League 2025 (PKL 2025) got underway on Friday (August 29) in Vizag. In the first game of the competition, Tamil Thalaivas locked horns against Telugu Titans before Bengaluru Bulls and Puneri Paltan took on each other.
Tamil Thalaivas started their campaign with a win, securing a thrilling 38-35 victory over Telugu Titans. Arjun Deshwal registered a Super 10 while star raider Pawan Sehrawat scored 9 points. On the other hand, Bharat Hooda scored nine points for the Titans.
Deshwal made an instant impact in the new season as he scored with his opening raid to give Thalaivas the early lead. For the Titans, Vijay Malik opened the account. With Hooda doing well early on, both the teams were going toe-to-toe in the first half. During the same match, Hooda also reached his 600th raid. At the end of the first half, the score was 14-13 in Thalaivas favour.
Both the teams gave each other a tough run before the Thalaivas eventually emerged as winners. It was Sehrawat who came up with a stunning Super Raid in the dying seconds to give his team a 38-35 victory.
In the second match of the day, Puneri Paltan registered a thrilling win through tie-breaker against Bengaluru Bulls. Both the teams were tied at 32-32 before the first-ever tie-breaker in a PKL league game took place. Puneri Paltan prevailed 6-4 in the tie-breaker to start their campaign with a win.
The two teams started the tie-breaker in the perfect fashion as they registered three successful raids. Akash Shinde and Sachin Tanwar were then brought down in the fourth raid as the two teams remained level. Puneri Paltan captain Aslam Inamdar made the difference in the end by giving his team the lead before a tackle from Dheeraj helped them emerge victorious in the first-ever tie-break in PKL history.
PKL 2025 Points Table:
| Rank | Team | Played | Won | Lost | Score Difference | Points |
| 1 | Tamil Thalaivas | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | Puneri Paltan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Bengal Warriors | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Dabang Delhi K.C. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Gujarat Giants | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Haryana Steelers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Jaipur Pink Panthers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Patna Pirates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | U Mumba | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | U.P. Yoddhas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Bengaluru Bulls | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Telugu Titans | 1 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 0 |