Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: We did win, but we are not happy, says Deepak Niwas Hooda

For a while, the Puneri Paltan looked set to repeat their impressive performance from Friday. After an even start, they had managed to exert their dominance and take a 12-point lead thanks to All Outs. They did go on to get their fifth straight win, but not before surviving a scare.

“We did win but we are worried how we lost all those points,” said Pune skipper Deepak Niwas Hooda about his team's 34-33 win.

The Paltan led 28-17 after they had inflicted the second All Out, but surrendered all of it as the UP Yoddha came back fighting to take a one-point lead late in the game.

“Our defence was good for 30 minutes, but they became aggressive in the last 10. UP knew it was difficult for them to win. So they wanted to get the 1 point for a loss and played with speed. They played a speed game, and our defenders also played at their speed and became too aggressive. That's why they made so many mistakes,” said Pune coach BC Ramesh about his team's efforts towards the end.

Deepak also mentioned that the raiders’ struggles also put pressure on the defence. “When I was getting points in the first half, they (his defence) were catching all their raiders. They also got a boost. When we started to struggle in the end, they became edgy and gave up points,” added Deepak who had another superb game, finishing with 17 points to lead all scorers.

His opposite number, Nitin Tomar, didn't have the best of nights. He was repeatedly tackled and sent back to the bench by the Paltan defence. He eventually finished with eight points and Rishank Devadiga had nine, but they came from over 35 raids. Nitin mentioned that Surender Singh’s nasty injury had an impact on the game.

The game was quite physical as we got to witness a lot of hard tackles, which, according to Nitin, was due to both sides playing with “too much josh”.

Paltan’s Sandeep Narwal once again made headlines for his hot-headed antics. He was given a green card by the officials to follow up his yellow in yesterday's game. He also made a slew of rash tackles that brought the Yoddha back into the game.

When asked if the team would ask Sandeep to pull back a little, Deepak gave a sly smile before saying, “We won't stop him from being aggressive. He will continue to play like that. You know Sandeep's game. Maybe we'll just have a word with him about some situations.”

The Paltan now get a good break before their next match and the win saw them consolidate their top three position in Zone A. The Yoddha next play the home team Tamil Thalaivas on Wednesday.