Riding on the performance of young Deepak Niwas Hooda, Puneri Paltan defeated the Jaipur Pink Panthers 33-28 in the last match of Pro Kabaddi season 4 held at Sawai Man Singh Stadium. The Panthers playing their 4th match in 4 days couldn’t get their act together as the Pune side put up a thoroughly professional performance and overcame some individual brilliance by another youngster Ajay Kumar to win their 3rd game of the tournament.
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Puneri Paltan drew first blood when a double thigh hold from corner Joginder Narwal brought down Jasvir Singh and opened the account for the team. But Rajesh Narwal gave them a huge blow when he took out Manjeet Chillar in the following raid for the first time in the match. The Paltans were not to be deterred though and kept the Panthers defenders busy with repeated successful raids.
It was now the time for Puneri Paltan’s defence to hog the limelight and Ravinder Pahal foiled one raid attempt after another to finally inflict an All Out on the Panthers to put them on the backfoot.
Rajesh Narwal took out Manjeet Chillar for the second time in the match in the 15th minute to win the duel of all-rounders. But the men in white and orange had still a hefty lead of 7 points. Narwal came back again and this time went back with a bonus to reduce the deficit to 5 points with 3 minutes left on the clock for half-time. The Narwal – Chillar duel was on once again when Chillar arrived ambitiously for a raid in the 19th minute, but guess who foiled the former wrestler’s raid- Narwal again.
Although Puneri Paltan had a 3 point lead at halftime, the team that looked more confident and had the momentum with them was the home side, thanks to Rajesh Narwal’s all round performance. How much the 26-year-old dominated the second half could be gauged by the fact that he, with 7 points, had the lion’s share out of the team’s 13 points.
Half Time – Jaipur Pink Panthers – 13 Puneri Paltan -16
Deepak Niwas Hooda continued a fruitful day and extended the lead for the team after the half time. Ravinder Pahal got the better of Panthers lynchpin Narwal but it was the following raid by Shabeer Bapu that gave the dramatic twist to the tale when he pushed Manjeet Chillar across the centre line. Clearly, Chillar wasn’t having a great day. Puneri Paltans still held a six-point lead when the official timeout was called in the 26th minute.
The Panthers needed to regroup quickly, and given their propensity to pull off comebacks, the crowd was still hopeful. But the flow of events didn’t change much after the timeout as the lead climbed to eight points. That’s when the young and impressive Ajay Kumar stepped in. Bringing him as a substitution proved to be a masterstroke for the Panthers. First, he got the team two points and saved them from an imminent All out in the 29th minute, and once again when he was left the last man standing, he made a super raid and got the team 4 points to bring Jaipur back in the contest again.
But an all out with just 5 minutes left on the clock left the Panthers staring at a 7 point deficit. Ajay Kumar brought up his 10th point of the match to reduce the gap, but what was hurting the Panthers was Jasvir Singh’s missing Midas touch, as the captain, who had 13 points in the last match, had not a single point to show tonight. Also, first half’s hero Rajesh Narwal was well deciphered by the ‘Hawk’ Ravinder Pahal, who kept bringing him down with ease. Pahal would go on to win the best defender’s award in the match and quite deservingly so.
In the end, the lead proved too much for the Panthers and they went down to Puneri Paltan by 5 points. The match ended the Jaipur leg of the tournament and the win ensured that Pune didn’t slip from the pole position on the points table.
Full Time – Jaipur Pink Panthers – 28 Puneri Paltan -33
