Jaipur Pink Panthers began their home leg in style with a 38-35 win against Telugu Titans in the 2023-24 Pro Kabaddi League, while Puneri Paltan beat Gujarat Giants on Friday.
Arjun Deshwal grabbed his fourth consecutive super ten for the Pink Panthers as he finished with 14 raid points, while Telugu Titans captain Pawan Sehrawat bagged 12 points in the evening.
Deshwal, this season’s top raider, needed no time to settle in as he struck from his very first raid. He was ably supported by Ankush and Reza Mirbagheri in defence as the home team raced to a 9-5 lead.
A moment of brilliance from Deshwal, where he got past the duo of Hamid Nader and Nitin – inflicted the first all out on the Titans and they trailed 6-14 in the 13th minute.
Pink Panthers needed just five minutes more to inflict a second all out. That phase of play belonged completely to Deshwal as he completed his super ten, while Ankush produced a ferocious dash to push Sehrawat off the mat.
The Titans captain was kept off the mat for over seven minutes as Jaipur Pink Panthers led 27-8 at the interval.
Telugu Titans showed a lot more character in the second half as their defence stepped up. Led by Sandeep Dhull, the team produced a series of sharp tackles to reduce the number of pink jerseys on the mat and Pawan completed the clean-up act to grab an all out.
With ten minutes to go, the scoreline read 33-21 in favour of the Pink Panthers.
Sehrawat switched gears thereon as he picked up points off successive raids before stopping V Ajith with a superb back hold. The Pink Panthers were down to two men at this point and in a spot of bother.
Lucky Sharma stepped out of bounds and then Bhavani Rajput was flattened on the mat as Telugu Titans inflicted another all out.
It marked a sensational turnaround from the Telugu Titans, as they fought their way back from a 19-point deficit to now trail by just five. Jaipur Pink Panthers held on to a narrow lead at 36-31 with four minutes to go.
Their lead was reduced to a mere 3 points, the two-time champions held on to ensure they began their home leg on a victorious note and extended their unbeaten run to seven matches.
Puneri Paltan beat Gujarat Giants
Later in the day, Puneri Paltan put the Gujarat Giants to the sword registering a 37-17 victory. Brilliant performances by Aslam Inamdar (10 points,) Gaurav Khatri (6 points) Mohamadreza Chiyaneh (5 points) sealed a dominant win for the table toppers.
Paltan got off to an electric start and raced into a five-point lead, almost immediately. Key to that lead though was in how their brilliant defence kept the Giants quiet, to a degree where they only managed their first point five minutes after the match started. The Paltan defence was imperious in the first half, logging an incredible eight tackle points.
The Giants kept trying to close in on the Paltan but to no avail. A super tackle by Sonu warded off the inevitable but with three minutes of the half left, the Paltan inflicted an all out to take a 16-7 lead. They extended that even further, going into the break leading by an incredible 11 points.
The Paltan continued their dominance in the second half and within the first four minutes of the restart inflicted a second all out to extend their lead to 28-10 lead.
A misfiring Giants offence couldn't do much to slow the rampage from there. They did pull off a series of super tackles at the tail end of the game to avoid the ignominy of another all out, but the result remained in no doubt as the Paltan cruised to a massive victory.
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