Pro Kabaddi League: Puneri Paltan Beat Dabang Delhi, Bengaluru Bulls Edge Out Patna Pirates

Puneri Paltan registered their sixth win of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) 2018 by beating Dabang Delhi 31-27 at the Patliputra Indoor Stadium in Patna on Wednesday. Puneri Paltan's defence led the way as Sandeep Narwal and Rinku Narwal caused troubles for Delhi's raiders, who continuously made errors like stepping in the lobby and being timed out. More GB and Deepak Kumar Dahiya combined a total of nine raid points between them to help Paltan secure the win. Naveen Kumar was the top raider for Delhi as he scored 6 points while Joginder Narwal contributed with 4 tackle points for the team. Puneri Paltan's Girish Maruti Ernak regained the Orange band after claiming 2 tackle points to take his tally to 31 tackle points.

In the other match of the night, Bengaluru Bulls registered a narrow 43-41 win against Patna Pirates. After this match, Bengaluru Bulls sit atop of Zone B table with 21 points, while Patna Pirates are placed fifth with 18 points.

Earlier, Puneri Paltan entered the match with mixed signals as they lost their star raider Nitin Tomar to an injury while the captain, Girish finally made a return to the starting seven. 

The first half had its ups and downs for both teams. The initial five minutes of the match witnessed both teams attempting to inflict damage through Do-Or-Die raids with Pune emerging successful.

Delhi made a comeback with Chandran Ranjit's 7th minute Super Raid which took Rinku Narwal, Sandeep Narwal and Ravi Kumar out of the equation. This led to a 9th minute All Out being conceded by Pune causing Delhi to lead 10-8. 

This lead was then handed back to Pune by Delhi's star defenders in Monu's 15th-minute raid as Joginder, Ravinder Pahal and Vishal Mane got out cheaply to equalise the score at 13-13. 

Pune, then inflicted an All Out on Delhi in the 17th minute after Rajesh Narwal and Yogesh Hooda got out a raid earlier to More GB. The half ended with Puneri Paltan leading by 7 points with 22-15.

The second half saw both teams continue to use the same tactic of using Do-Or-Die raids. Pune continued to slow the game down while Delhi tried the trick to get tackle points. 

Naveen Kumar made the game slightly interesting by getting touch points on Sandeep Narwal and Monu on the way back of his 22nd-minute raid to make it 17-23.

Meraj Shayk was substituted to crack the Do-Or-Die raid tactic, which proved to be a great idea by Delhi as he got Sandeep out with his famous back kick in the 29th minute.

Eventually, Dabang Delhi suffered a 27-31 loss at the hands of Pune. After this match, Dabang Delhi are placed fourth, while Puneri Paltan are placed first in the Zone A points table.

(With IANS Inputs)