HYDERABAD: Puneri Paltan held a comfortable lead going into the last 10 minutes of the match, but Captain Naveen Kumar put up an inspiring performance to lead the fightback for Dabang Delhi K.C. However, the Pune side held their nerve in the dying minutes of the game and eventually walked off with a 47-44 victory at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday. With the win, Puneri Paltan moved to the top of the table.
Ashu Malik picked up a couple of touch points as the Dabang Delhi K.C. took the lead at 6-4 in the 5th minute. Naveen Kumar also stepped up his game and reduced the Puneri Paltan to just two members on the mat. Moments later, Ravi Kumar tackled Akash Shinde as the Delhi team inflicted an all out in the 9th minute to take a huge lead at 13-7.
However, Pankaj Mohite and Akash Shinde effected raids and kept the Puneri Paltan in the game at 12-16. Thereafter, Abinesh Nadarajan tackled Naveen Kumar on a Do or Die raid as the Pune side continued to chip away at the lead. Mohammad Nabibakhsh had a great chance to inflict an all out, but Vijay Malik pulled off a brilliant super tackle to keep Delhi afloat. However, the Pune side managed to carry out an all out in the last minute of the first half, but still trailed at 20-21. But, Shinde effected a raid and Nadarajan tackled Naveen to hand Puneri the lead at 22-21 at the end of the first half.
Shinde continued to shine in the second half as the Pune side earned a three-point lead at 25-22 in the 24th minute. Moments later, the Paltan tackled Manjeet and inflicted another all out to attain a stronghold of the match at 30-24. Pune's Shinde pulled off a brilliant super raid in the 29th minute, catching out Vishal, Ashu Malik and Krishan and helped his team take a massive lead at 35-25. However, Naveen effected a super raid soon after and kept Delhi's hopes alive. But, the Pune side kept raging on and inflicted an all out to race into a 9-point lead at 41-30 in the 31st minute.
However, Naveen was in no mood to give up as he pulled off a magnificent multi-point raid in the 37th minute to keep his team in the game at 38-43. Moments later, Ravi Kumar tackled Nabibakhsh as the Delhi side inflicted an all out to get within touching distance of Pune's score at 43-46. However, the Puneri Paltan played their cards perfectly in the last minute and clinched a thriller in the end.
Tamil Thalaivas outpoint Telugu Titans
Tamil Thalaivas’ skipper Ajinkya Pawar led by example as his side produced a scintillating display to defeat the Telugu Titans by a scoreline of 52-24. Ajinkya Pawar finished the game with 20 points of his own while Narender added 10 more to the cause, leading the Tamil Thalaivas to a massive win.
It was a cautious start with both the Telugu Titans and the Tamil Thalaivas going at each other, trading points in the early exchanges, not allowing either side to get a hold of proceedings. On the five-minute mark, the Tamil Thalaivas though sneaked ahead, leading by 6-3. Captain Ajinkya Pawar, Sahil Gulia and Narender making some telling contributions for the Tamil Thalaivas.
The Ajinkya Pawar led side started to consolidate their position from then on in, getting an 8-point lead at one stage before the Telugu Titans’ K Hanumanthu started to chip away at the lead, with some impressive raids. Soon enough though, the Tamil Thalaivas’ defensive got their act going, with M Abhishek and Mohit standing tall, helping them storm into a 7-point lead. Before the end of the first half, Ajinkya Pawar helped inflict an all out on the Telugu Titans and in the process brought up his Super 10. At the break, the Tamil Thalaivas led by 26-16 and were firmly in the box seat.
After the breather, both sets of players took their time to get going, but it was the Tamil Thalaivas’ skipper who was leading from the front with an incredible Super Raid, that took out five players, giving Ajinkya Pawar and co a bigger advantage to work with. Abhishek Singh landed a three-point raid right after, but with just under ten minutes to go, the Tamil Thalaivas had a 16-point lead. Ajinkya inflicted another all out on the Telugu Titans while Narender joined the party as well, pushing the Tamil Thalaivas towards the half-century with less than five minutes to go.