Outstanding Super Tackles hand Puneri Paltan first home win

Puneri Paltan picked up six Super Tackles on their way to beating Jaipur Pink Panthers 29-25 and winning their first home game at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Friday. Ravi Kumar managed two Super Tackles and six total tackle points on the night, whereas Monu led Puneri Paltan’s overall scoring with seven points.

The first half saw a constant shift in momentum between both sides as Jaipur Pink Panthers took an early 4-1 lead and Puneri Paltan replied by scoring four straight points of their own to take a 5-4 lead. Deepak Niwas Hooda’s Super Tackle on Monu swung the pendulum back in Jaipur Pink Panthers’ favour, as Nitin Rawal got corners Girish Maruti Ernak and Sandeep Narwal in his next two raids, giving the visitors five straight points and a 10-5 lead.

With just two men left on the left, Jaipur Pink Panthers were closing in on inflicting an All-Out but Rinku Narwal had other ideas as he Super Tackled Nitin Rawal to reduce his team’s deficit to just three. Monu managed to get a bonus each on two consecutive raids and then Super Tackled Anup Kumar to level the match at 11-11.

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Ravi Kumar then got his team’s third Super Tackle of the half as they held steady against Nitin Rawal for close to 30 seconds in a Do-Or-Die raid and eventually tackled him to end the half with a 13-12 lead in their team’s favour.

Puneri Paltan continued their outstanding night in defence in the second half, getting a Super Tackle on Hooda first and on Amit Kumar in the 26^th minute to take the team’s tally to five Super Tackles in the match.

But Jaipur Pink Panthers kicked into overdrive through Hooda, who got Ernak and Rinku Narwal in successive raids, split by Sandeep Dhull tackling Monu, leaving only Sandeep Narwal on the mat for Puneri Paltan. Sandeep went in for the raid and got the bonus but was powerless in stopping the Jaipur Pink Panthers defence from forcing an All-Out, as they closed down Puneri Paltan’s lead to just one.

With the score at 25-24 in their favour and all seven players on the mat, Puneri Paltan went on a final blitzkrieg as captain Ernak moved Rawal out of bounds and Jadhav got an Ankle Hold on Anand Patil to push Puneri Paltan’s lead back up to three.

Hooda then stepped into the lobby without a touch and got self-out to hand Puneri Paltan a four-point lead.

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Selvamani K. scored the final point of the match for Jaipur Pink Panthers but it was Puneri Paltan who secured their first Season 6 win at home by a margin of 29-25.