Puneri Paltan commenced their home phase with a well fought 33-28 win over Dabang Delhi in Season 2 of the Pro Kabaddi league here on Sunday while Bengal Warriors stunned Jaipur Pink Panthers 39-38.
Warriors, who were placed in penultimate position on the table, halted Panthers’ four-match winning run to move to sixth position. Despite the defeat, Panthers stayed in fourth spot with 37 points.
Veteran Jitesh Joshi and Sanjay Kumar, with seven and six points respectively, were the architects of Pune’s victory.
It was Sanjay who came up with a super raid that helped his side inflict an all-out in the 34th minute, helping Pune grabbed the lead at 28-24. Also frustrating Delhi was Ravi Kumar, who excelled in the defence for Pune.
With this win, the hosts tally went up to 19 points with no change in their position.
The five-point loss meant Dabang could add one point to increase their tally to 27 points.
Delhi dominated the first half, scoring the first all-out in the 10th minute to lead 12-4. The half-time score stood 18-11 in their favour. It was Kashiling Adake and Shrikant Tewthia who did most of the damage. The former had five plus a bonus with one two-point raid and Shrikant had one super tackle on Sanjay while gaining two defence points.
Pune came back strongly on resumption to effect an all-out and narrow the lead to 16-19.
Jitesh and Sanjay helped Pune go ahead 25-23 and thereafter Pune held on as they kept the scoreboard ticking.
A two-pointer by Shrikant kept Delhi in the hunt but three good catches by Sanjay, Ravi and Kalimuthu helped the hosts seal the match.
Points table
Teams Mat Won Lost Drawn Pts
U Mumba 12 11 1 0 55
Telugu Titans 13 7 3 3 45
Bengaluru Bulls 13 8 5 0 43
Pink Panthers 13 6 6 1 37
Patna Pirates 12 5 6 1 31
Bengal Warriors 14 4 9 1 27
Dabang Delhi 14 4 9 1 27
Puneri Paltan 11 2 8 1 19
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