Puneri Paltan staved off a strong challenge from Bengaluru Bulls to record a 44-27 win in the ProKabaddi League at the Thyagaraj Stadium here on Saturday.
This was Paltan’s fifth win and fourth on the trot. Bulls suffered its ninth successive loss.
Paltan seized initiative by taking a 4-1 lead. Bulls shook off the slow start to collect four points through Deepak Dahiya’s super raid and three by making Paltan all out to take a 10-5 lead in the ninth minute.
However, Palta — led by the charismatic Manjeet Chhillar — fought back to wrest the lead from Bulls. A dazzling performance from Chhillar, who outwitted the Bulls’s defenders to steal raid points and joined hands with Surjeet and Jasmer Gulia to execute some exceptional tackles, helped Paltan immensely.
Deepak Niwas Hooda and Ajay Thakur also contributed important raid points to take Paltan forward.
Bulls managed to close the gap by two points but it was not enough as they finished at 13-19 at half-time.
Bulls tried to catch up after the change of ends but Paltan, boosted by Thakur’s four-point raid followed by two three-pointers through all out efforts, widened the gap.
The result: Puneri Paltan bt Bengaluru Bulls 44-27.
