Puneri Paltan's youngsters produced a mature performance to beat the experienced Gujarat Giants 33-26 in a Pro Kabaddi League match here on Wednesday.
Mohit Goyat clinched a Super 10 (10 points) for Paltan, his first in PKL, and was ably backed by all-rounder Aslam Inamdar (8 points) as the team moved away from the bottom of the points table.
Gujarat's coach Manpreet Singh will ask questions of his defence which failed to show up once again. The Giants' only relief came in the form of their raiders Ajay Kumar (10 points) and Rakesh S (8 points).
The match was going to be all about how the experienced defensive line-up of Gujarat handled the young Pune raiders. And it was the latter who started well with Mohit Goyat particularly impressive.
Aslam Inamdar and Vishwas S supported Mohit as Pune got their first 'All Out' in the 10th minute.
Left corner Girish Ernak hardly spent time on the mat while Gujarat right corner Ravinder Pahal suffered a knee injury while making a tackle.
Pahal's injury brought Hadi Oshtorak to the mat, but the Iranian wasn't given an opportunity to settle by Mohit Goyat. Pune's raider picked up 8 points in the first half that ended 19-13 in the team's favour. At the other end, Rakesh scored 7 to keep his team alive in the contest.
Pune started the second half with the same intensity and got their second 'All Out' in the fifth minute. Gujarat's experienced defenders struggled to cope with the intensity of Pune's youngsters.
Aslam Inamdar and Vishwas contributed with successful tackles too as the all-rounders ensured Pune maintained a 5-point lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Ajay Kumar secured a Super 10 for Gujarat Giants but Pune kept finding points with Aslam Inamdar shining.
With five minutes on the clock, Pune had an 8-point lead. Parvesh Bhainswal produced two Super Tackles to give Gujarat a glimmer of hope in the final minutes, but the lead proved too much for the Giants to overcome.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor