Jaipur: In the much-anticipated top of the table clash, Puneri Paltan beat Jaipur Pink Panthers 33-28 as Jaipur ended their home leg with a loss. A superb individual performance by youngster Ajay Kumar who scored 11 points went in vain as Puneri Paltan ran out eventual winners. Ravinder Bahal put in an impressive performance in defence for Puneri Paltan as he scored five tackle points.
Puneri Paltan remained in first place as they have 19 points from five games whereas Jaipur Pink Panthers remained in the second spot.
Puneri Paltan had a plan to target Jaipur’s star men Jasvir Singh and Shabeer Bapu. Nitin Tomar scored with his first do-or-die raid in the seventh minute as Puneri Paltan led 4-2. Deepak Niwas Hooda scored two points and forced Jasvir Singh off the court in the eighth minute to lead 7-2.
Rajesh Narwal forced a super tackle on Nitin Tomar as Jaipur Pink Panthers came back to cut the deficit to a single point after 10 minutes of the game. Puneri Paltan inflicted the first all out in 13thminute to lead 12-7 The star raiders of both teams – Jasvir Singh for Jaipur and Manjeet Chhillar for Pune – were unusually quiet in the first half. Ajay Hooda made two defensive errors for Jaipur as Puneri Paltan led 15-8 with four minutes left in the first half. Jaipur ended the first half strongly and scored seven points in the last five minutes as they trailed 13-16 at the end of first half.
Puneri Paltan began the second half strongly and scored three points and led 19-13 after five minutes of second half. Jasvir Singh failed to score a single point with his first six raids as Puneri Paltan opened an eight-point gap to lead 22-14 after 28 minutes. Ajay Kumar scored crucial two points for Jaipur Pink Panthers as they averted an all-out in the 30th minute.Ajay Kumar then inflicted a super raid in the next minute to score four points as Jaipur cut the lead to just three points with less than ten minutes to go.
With less than six minutes to go, Puneri Paltan inflicted the second all out to lead 30-23. Jaipur Pink Panthers needed their raiders to get points but in the last five minutes they failed to do so. Deepak Niwas Hooda scored nine raid points for the Puneri Paltan to lead his team to an impressive win.
Final Score Line
Jaipur Pink Panthers – Puneri Paltan: 28-33
Best raider of the match – Deepak Hooda (Puneri Paltan)
Best defender of the match – Ravinder Pahal (Puneri Paltan)
TVS Type moment of the match – Ajay Kumar (Jaipur Pink Panthers)
The Gionee Marathon Man of the MAT, for maximum time on court if the fully charged – Deepak Hooda (Puneri Paltan)
Team Standings
| POS | TEAM | PLAYED | WON | LOST | DRAW | SD | PTS |
| 1 | Puneri Paltan | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 19 |
| 2 | Jaipur Pink Panthers | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 15 |
| 3 | U Mumba | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -20 | 11 |
| 4 | Patna Pirates | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 |
| 5 | Dabang Delhi K.C. | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | -2 | 9 |
| 6 | Bengaluru Bulls | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -7 | 8 |
| 7 | Bengal Warriors | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 8 | Telugu Titans | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -8 | 2 |
