Aslam Inamdar’s last-gasp winning raid saw Puneri Paltan notch their second win of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 with a 26-25 win over Telugu Titans at the Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
In the other match of the day, the Jaipur Pink Panthers continued their fantastic form picking up their fourth successive victory after defeating Bengal Warriors 39-24.
Titans and Paltan fought neck-to-neck in the last few minutes of the match, until Inamdar held his nerve and took his team over the line.
A cautious start by both teams led to a slow low scoring first half. The pick of the raiders was Puneri Paltan’s Mohit Goyat, whose constant touch points kept the Titans on their toes, but never really put them in true danger of an All Out. Throughout the first half, Puneri’s defensive output almost matched their raiders. It was only Siddharth Desai’s penchant for getting bonus points that kept the Titans in the hunt. The teams went into the break with Paltan leading 11-9.
Paltan raced out of the blocks in the second half, and within just a few minutes had issued the first All Out of the game, their defence catching out last man Monu Goyat on a raid to rack up a 16-11 lead. Despite Desai picking up some crucial points, and constantly remaining a thorn in the Paltan defenders’ flesh, the Titans never actually managed to seriously dent the lead too much.
With barely a quarter of the game left, the Titans suddenly started to pull the lead back. It started off with a brilliant Super Tackle by Surjeet Singh on Mohammad Nabibaksh to cut the lead down to three. On their next raid, Vinay’s SUPER RAID caught out three Paltan players — Mohit Goyat, Rakesh Ram, Sanket Sawant — and a bonus, as the Titans rushed into a 22-21 lead — the first time they did so in the match.
From there the game turned into a close contest, both teams upping the level of the game to give the fans in the stadium a real show. A breathless affair culminated in a final minute with the Paltan leading by one single point 25-24. On the Titans’ last raid, Desai got the bonus point to tie the game. With one second left, it all fell on Paltan’s Aslam Inamdar to salvage something from the game. A crucial error, by Monu Goyat, meant the Puneri Paltan got the point they needed to notch their second win of the season.
Deshwal Shines For Jaipur
Arjun Deshwal was the star for the Panthers once again, recording another Super 10 in the competition.
While raiders Arjun Deshwal and V Ajith stood up for the Jaipur Pink Panthers, Deepak Hooda and Shrikant Jadhav kept picking up raid points for the Bengal Warriors in the first few minutes of the match. However, the Panthers stepped on the pedal and gained a three-point lead at 10-7 in the 13th minute. Moments later, Ajith reduced the Warriors to two players on the mat. The Panthers tackled Hooda in the 14th minute to inflict the first All Out of the match. Soon after, Jaipur caught Maninder Singh and led comfortably at 16-9. The Panthers held an eight-point lead at 20-12 at the end of the first half.
The Warriors showed more urgency in the second half through a raid by Shrikant Jadhav and a tackle by Shubham Shinde, but Deshwal kept effecting raids to ensure that his team keeps extending its lead. Raider Bhavani Rajput also joined the party as the Panthers attained a massive lead at 25-16. Jaipur Captain Sunil Kumar tackled Jadhav in the 31st minute as the Panthers inflicted another All Out. Deshwal kept raging on as the Jaipur side eventually closed out a comprehensive victory.
