Pune (Maharashtra) [India], December 24 : Puneri Paltan cruised to a comprehensive ten-point victory over the Tamil Thalaivas in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), winning 42-32 at the Badminton Hall in the Balewadi Sports Complex on Monday. The defending champions finished their campaign on a high, courtesy Super 10 from Aryavardhan Navale and a High-5 from Gaurav Khatri, while the others made their mark to wrap up a complete performance.
Abhishek Manokaran's tackle opened the scoring with the first tackle of the night before Sachin and Aryavardhan Navale exchanged two-point raids in the opening exchanges. The latter gave Puneri Paltan the lead at 5-4. V. Ajith Kumar further extended the lead as he got himself on the board with a couple of raids, as per a press release from PKL.
It didn't take too long for Puneri Paltan to register their first all-out, courtesy Sanket Sawant's tackle on Himanshu, giving his side a four-point lead at 10-6. Aryavardhan Navale further piled on the pressure and executed a Super Raid, before a tackle from V. Ajith Kumar allowed the defending champions to inflict another all out in quick succession, extending their lead to thirteen points within the first ten minutes as the scoreline read 20-7.
Pankaj Mohite took some time to get himself on the board with a Do-or-Die Raid, while Aman completed 50 tackle points for the season, keeping Puneri Paltan in the driver's seat. Tamil Thalaivas managed to stop the bleeding to close with some decent defending, closing out the first half with the score at 28-13.
A slow start to the second half saw the defensives calling the shots as Amir Hossein Bastami and Himanshu made their presence felt on both ends of the floor, helping Tamil Thalaivas find some momentum. However, Aryavardhan Navale completed his Super 10 to keep a 13-point lead intact for Puneri Paltan.
Gaurav Khatri, Sanket Sawant and Aman were doing the damage on the defensive end, while V. Ajith Kumar kept the raiding department ticking to keep their side in the lead heading into the last phase of the contest. Tamil Thalaivas could never quite brush off the double-digit deficit with the Puneri Paltan dictating terms rather comfortably in the second half.
Himanshu continued to display some courage and spirit for Tamil Thalaivas. Gaurav Khatri his High-5, eventually, making sure that the early onslaught from Puneri Paltan that helped their side emerge victorious in their final match.
Ali Hadi registered a Super Tackle to help the defending champions breach the 40-point mark in the closing stages. Tamil Thalaivas ended with a couple of tackles from Nitesh Kumar, who completed his High-5, and Abhishek Manokaran. Puneri Paltan prevailed comfortably in the end, signing off with a win by a scoreline of 42-32.
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