A super-skilled Puneri Paltan put up a strong performance against a beleaguered Bengal Warriors in the first inter-zonal league match of the Vivo ProKabaddi League at the Arena by Transstadia on Tuesday.
Even though skipper and raider Deepak Niwas Hooda, was rendered out of action for most part of the tie, Paltan rode on the all-round ability of Sandeep Narwal, some dogged raiding by Gurunath More and a solid defensive display by Girish Ernak. These three contributed in the 34-17 win for the Pune side.
The match began with Hooda returning from an empty raid and Warriors scoring a bonus point. However, Paltan started to take control through a sequence of touch points by More and Narwal, the latter steady and solid in his tackles right through the contest. He ended up with more tackle points (4) than raid points (3).
The first half saw both teams concede points, with Hooda and Warriors’ top raider — South Korean Jang Kun Lee — running into the lobby (out of play) after their attempts. Lee, who had come into the match with 23 raid points, was done in by the robust defensive work of Sandeep and Ernak; the two also made sure that Warriors’ Maninder Singh was not given the leeway to stay in the game for a long time, ejecting him quite a few times.
With Lee and Maninder falling victims regularly, Warriors couldn’t make much headway.
Warriors was dismissed twice and came close to caving in for a third time, but Sandeep could not do a Rajesh Modal, who was responsible for the second lona (all out), as he walked away after scoring two touch points in the fifth minute of the second half.
Maninder Singh and Ran Singh managed to put up a semblance of a fight, but eventually their side was outwitted and overpowered.
The result: Puneri Paltan 34 bt Bengal Warriors 17.
