Puneri Paltan picked up an easy victory over Bengal on the penultimate day of the Patna leg of the Pro Kabaddi Season 4. The men in orange beat the Warriors 38-31. The win catapulted them into the second position with 25 points as they continue to prove their title credentials in season four.
Having finally recovered from an injury, Jang-Kun Lee started this match for Bengal. But he looked rusty in the opening minutes, letting Sonu Narwal pick up the first raid point of the match. Narwal continued to dance past the Warrior defenders to give his side a 3-2 lead.
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At the other end, Nitin Mandane took out Manjeet Chhillar early on with a swift turn past the Pune captain. Bengal’s raiders definitely looked positive in the first half, unlike their previous outings. Sensing this, Paltan captain, Manjeet introduced himself to slow things down.
The veteran was as effective as ever as he never let the Bengal raiders settle. Positioned in the middle, he pounced on every opportunity to execute his vintage tackles.
Manjeet scored five defensive points is six tackle attempts in the first half. Twelve minutes in and Pune were leading 10-5. A lot was expected of Vishal Mane this season but he couldn’t make much of an impact in this match. His tackles were impulsive and ill-timed, in the process giving Pune easy raid points.
With six minutes remaining, the Warriors were down to one. And as expected, Manjeet and company inflicted the first all out to open up a nine-point lead. The Warriors defence looked far too hasty. The nimble-footed Deepak Hooda picked up four raid points in the first half.
HT- Bengal Warriors 10 – Puneri Paltan 22
Thirty seconds into the second half, Bengal suffered their second all out as Pune secured a massive sixteen-point lead – 26-10. Vishal Mane continued with his hurried but ineffective tackles. Sonu Narwal and Ajay Thakur took turns to expose his frail attempts.
At the other end, Manjeet was supremely confident. He went in for every single tackle irrespective of the situation. He even undertook raiding responsibilities more often than usual. Pune’s seven worked like hyenas, never letting their guard loose despite their massive lead, a testament to their title winning ambitions this season.
The Paltan raiders took turns to test their raiding skills. Almost resembling a practice session. But Bengal had a good four-minute run to cut the deficit to eleven and reduced Pune to just three men with eight minutes remaining. The Paltan were in no mood to conceded cheap points though.
They executed a super tackle on Lee and put to bed any hopes of a comeback. Sonu Narwal was playing the game at pedestrian pace and still had no trouble picking up raid points. The Paltan were complacent in the final five minutes and were reduced to one man but Sonu Narwal delayed a possible all out.
It wasn’t to be as Bengal surprisingly inflicted an all out to reduce the deficit to just eight. But there wasn’t going to be a late comeback as the match ended 38-31 in favour of Pune. Heading forward, Manjeet and company will be weary of the complacency they showed in the second half.
FT- Bengal Warriors 31 - Puneri Paltan 38
