New Delhi :Jaipur Pink Panthers remained in the hunt for a play-off berth with a well-deserved 31-18 win over Puneri Paltan in the second season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League at the Thyagraj Indoor Stadium.
After a cautious start the winners inflicted the first all out in the 17th minute to go ahead 13-7 and the half-time score of 16-8 was proof enough of their intentions.
With this, their fifth win in the 11 matches, the Panthers are level with Bengaluru Bulls with 31 points but displace them on superior point difference to surge ahead to third spot. The latter has played two matches less though. Pune remain in last place with 13 points and their chances have receded completely.
The match started on a sensational note as Sonu Narwal was trapped by Ravi Kumar and Manoj Dhull as he went in to start the match. Pune led for some time till the Panthers equalised at 7-7. Wazir and Mahipal Narwal looked confident only to fade away later.
For the Panthers, it was Prashant Chavan and Ran Singh who admirably filled in for captain Navneet Gautam and came up with good waist holds on Wazir twice. Rajesh Narwal warmed up late and along with Sonu contributed seven points together by half time with Sonu’s share being five.
The second half belonged totally to the Panthers. Ran Singh came up with two raid and catch points to leave his all -round imprint on today’s game. Rajesh was instrumental in getting three more points of which two were off do-or-die raids.
Sonu, silent as ever went about gathering his share although he was caught once. He ended with a tally of eight.
Pune brought in Sachin V, but that move only helped them to keep the scoreboard ticking with the Panthers keeping well ahead throughout the game.
PTI