A complete performance sees Puneri Paltan best Haryana Steelers

Following their close contest against U Mumba which ended in a tie, Puneri Paltan closed off their first win of VIVO Pro kabaddi Season 6 against Haryana Steelers by a 34-22 score line at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai on Monday. All three Pune raiders, Nitin Tomar (7 points), More GB (6 points) and Deepak Kumar Dahiya (5 points) performed consistently which made the difference for the team.

Haryana Steelers looked like they would run away with an early advantage through Vikash Khandola’s raids but Puneri Paltan struck back through More GB. He got through the Steelers’ defence and was not afraid to take on their raiders.

Tomar pull up ahead

Both teams played on Do-or-Die raids after that, relying on their defence to get them points and it was the Pune defence that came out on top. They kept picking up the Haryana raiders whenever they made the mistake of coming in too deep and inflicted the first All-Out of the match on the Steelers through the brilliance of Nitin Tomar in the  17^th minute.

With just 3 minutes of play left in the first half, neither defence conceded any point and the half-time score read 15-9 in favour of the Paltan. Surender Nada had managed to keep his side in the match by scoring 3 vital tackle points and staying on the mat when his team required him.

Khandola keeps up the fight

Facing the task of cutting down a 6-point lead, the Steelers started well once again through Vikash Khandola. But Tomar looked to be carrying forward his form from the previous game and pulled off a strong 2-point raid which kept his team ahead and, more importantly, sent Nada to the bench.

Tomar’s burst seemed to inspire the Paltan into action as More GB’s escape ability and Ravi Kumar’s strong Dashes helped the team inflict a second All-Out on the Steelers which gave them a 30-17 lead in the 15^th minute.

Put in a tough situation, the Steelers fought hard till the end but could not avoid the inevitable. They eventually succumbed to a 12-point defeat at the hands of the Paltan. Khandola (8 points) narrowly missed out on a Super 10 while Nada was just one point away from adding another High 5 in his kitty.