Mumbai: Puneri Paltans showed their composure in edging Telugu Titans 28-24 in a closely fought opening game.
In a pulsating opening encounter of the fourth season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League, the Puneri Paltan beat Telugu Titans by 28-24. Puneri Paltan started off slowly but put in a commanding second half performance to begin their campaign with a bang.
The Telugu Titans started aggressively and put in a solid all-round performance with their attack and defense working well in tandem. Puneri Paltan’s raider struggled in the first half and their Nitin Tomar was restricted to zero points. It took nine minutes for the Telugu Titans to inflict the first all-out of the match with the score at 11-6. It looked like Pune were losing their grip on the match but came back to reduce the deficit to two points and the score at half time was 15-13 in the favour of Telugu Titans.
The second half, however, was a different story as Puneri Paltan showed their mettle and their star man Manjeet Chhillar was solid at the back. With the game on knife’s edge at 18-17, Puneri Paltan struck at the right time to inflict their first all-out. Vinod scored five points for the Titans as did Sandeep Narwal.
Tomar who was looking out of sorts for the most of the game crucially scored his first point to make ita four-point game in favor of Pune. With score at 22-18, Telugu Titans captain Rahul Chaudhry failed with a do-or-die raid. For a while, it looked like Telugu Titans might just stage a comeback and with two TV reviews going in their favour but PuneriPaltan held their nerve. Chhillar marshaled his troops magnificently and showed why he is considered one of the best players in the league.
Both teams showed their defensive prowess and it was a bit surprising to see both teams missing out more than a few do-or-die raids. Puneri Paltan’s Sonu Narwal was adjudged the best raider of the match whereas Chhillar was the best defender.
