Haryana Steelers suffered their fourth defeat in five matches, this time to Jaipur Pink Panthers. In a closely contest match in Sonipat. Haryana fell short by four points and lost 33-36. This was the first win for Jaipur in Pro Kabaddi.
Nitin Rawal and Anup Kumar combined for crucial points in the second half which made the difference between the two teams after a close first half.
For Haryana, Naveen Khandola was the standout performer as he scored 17 points but lack of support from raider Monu Goyat, who had another disappointing outing, meant his effort mattered little.
Haryana started off brightly with Goyat and Naveen getting raid points and a 2-0 lead after three minutes. Goyat added another point raid point to extend the lead and Haryana dominated play for the first five minutes.
Anup then took it upon himself and scored raid points to bring Jaipur level with Haryana. It was mediocre play from both teams in first half which had too many empty raids.
Tied 12-12 after first half, the match saw a shift in momentum as Jaipur began to take control of proceedings and scored four points in four minutes to lead 16-13.
Haryana were in danger of suffering an allout but substitute Bhuvneshwar Gaur scored a two-point raid in the 25th minute to avert it. They avoided another allout attempt by Jaipur shortly after.
It was third time lucky for Jaipur as Anup scored a two-point raid in the 28th minute and inflicted the first all out of the match to lead 23-17.
Things went from bad to worse for Haryana as Deepak Niwas Hooda came up with a super raid in the 29th minute to give Jaipur a 10-point lead.
But Haryana were still in race as a super tackle in the 33rd minute to cut the deficit to seven points. Naveen produced another super raid to bring down the Jaipur lead to four points but it was too little too late.