Puneri Paltan marched into the semi-final of Pro Kabaddi 2016 Season 4 with an excellent 36-33 win over Bengaluru Bulls. Showing great strength and resilience, Puneri Paltan staged a superb comeback after being down by nine points at the end of the first half. They kept their calm and composure to bounce back after Bengaluru Bulls put a lot of pressure on them. The result of this match also dumped U Mumba out of the tournament.
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Both teams came into this game with completely different aims and ambitions due to their exisiting situations in Pro Kabaddi 2016 Season 4. While Pune wanted to win this one to qualify for the semi-finals, Bengaluru Bulls were just looking to spoil their party. Puneri Paltan fielded a strong side with Manjeet Chhillar, Ajay Thakur, Ravinder Pahal, Deepak Niwas Hooda, Nitin Tomar, Parmod Narwal and Joginder Narwal. Bengaluru Bulls, on the other hand, were led by Rohit Kumar and their side featured Mohit Chillar, Surender Nada, Pawan Kumar, Ashish Kumar, Jeeva Gopal and Rahul Kumar.
The game started off on the right note for Puneri Paltan as Deepak Niwas Hooda continued from where he left off and executed a superb scorpion kick on Mohit Chillar. Rohit Kumar, on a level of his own, levelled things for Bengaluru by taking off Ravinder Pahal with a trademark running hand touch. Deepak and Rohit had a battle of their own in the first quarter and both looked to steal points. Puneri Paltan took a lead of three points around the fifth minute with the score reading 4-1.
Puneri Paltan loked like a side possessed with the intention of winning and continued their surge by reducing Bengaluru down to just three men in the 7th minute. With Surender Nada and Mohit Chillar on the mat, Bengaluru decided to play on the defensive and force a do or die raid on Puneri Paltan. It paid off for the team from south as Nada and Chillar combined to take down Deepak Hooda but Paltan tackled Yogesh Hooda to reduce them to three again.
Manjeet Chhillar was continously rallying his men and was livid when Mohit Chillar got two points but his team responded by taking off one more man. Sumit removed Manjeet Chillar to keep Bengaluru in the hunt and then effected a Super Tackle to bring Rohit Kumar back on to the mat with the score reading 10-09. Bengaluru Bulls were down to three men again but they looked confident and decided to play on the defensive. Pune, under pressure by Bengaluru’s comeback, forced a do or die raid on Rohit Kumar, who showed what a talent he is by drawing his team level. Bengaluru went into the lead and reduced Pune to just two men with the score being 15-10 in favour of them.
Bengaluru Bulls took advantage of Puneri Paltan being under pressure and effected the All Out in the 16th minute and were leading by three points. Puneri Paltan were on the backfoot but Ajay Thakur’s raid and another tackle reduced the lead to six points, which was still quite a lot. Mohit Chillar, shaking off that raid from Deepak in the first minute, produced tackles one after the other and with over a minute left Bengaluru were leading by seven points. They ended the half stronger and were ahead by nine points, leaving Pune’s hope hanging by a thread.
Half Time: Puneri Paltan 12 – 21 Bengaluru Bulls
Pune were down to four men coming into the second half and needed an immediate response. They effected a tackle on Yogesh Hooda and then took a touch point to reduce the deficit to just seven points. When Deepak Hooda got one more touch point, the lead was down to six and Bengaluru had a do or die raid. Pune capitalised on creating pressure and reduced Bengaluru to three men, which was quickly made into two when they removed Rohit Kumar. It was a pulsating contest and Manjeet took the onus of raiding with two men remaining but Nada and Chillar stood tall to effect a Super Tackle. The score after five minutes in the second half was 23-17 in favour of Bengaluru.
Yogesh Hooda’s do or die raid was converted iinto a point by Puneri Paltan and they duly condemned Bengaluru to an All Out in the 27th minute to pull back the deficit to just one point. The match was set for a rollicking final ten minutes and Ajay Thakur effected a stunning raid to give his team the lead but Yogesh Hooda brough it back to level peggings at 24-24.
Deepak Hooda induced an error of Surender Nada to reduce the men from Bengaluru to just ffive. Bengaluru were on the back foot as neither Surender Nada nor Mohit Chillar was on the mat. Pune forced a do or die raid on Yogesh Hooda, who was tackled down, and then Deepak Niwas Hooda’s stunning raid put Pune ahead by four points. Bengaluru were staring at All Out in the 33rd minute with the score being 29-25 in the opposition’s favour.
The inevitable happened and Bengaluru were dismissed completley in the 34th minute and Puneri Paltan were leading by six points. It was an astonishing come back and Pune needed to just bide their time in order to walk into the semi-final. With five minutes left in the game, Bengaluru were staring at another loss and asked Rohit Kumar to the bulk of raiding.
He earned them a bonus but Ajay Thakur’s touch point on the do or die raid kept Puneri Paltan’s lead of five points intact. The game became an interesting prospect when a tackle on Ajay Thakur and error by Puneri Paltan reuced the game to just three points. With over two minutes remaining, both teams were playing on the defensive to put the ball in the other team’s court. The game ended as expected and Pune ran down the clock to march into the semi-final and knock U Mumba simultaneously.
Full Time: Puneri Paltan 36-33 Bengaluru Bulls
