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Gujarat Fortune Giants secured an impressive 37-27 win over the Puneri Paltan thanks to a balanced showing by their raiders and defenders at the Patliputra sports complex in Patna.
Led by the raiding prowess of Sachin Tawar, who scored a brilliant 10 points to secure his ninth Super 10 in his Pro Kabaddi League career, the team from Gujarat played with an intensity that formed the basis of their win from the first minute of the game.
Pune started the game quicker, thanks to Nitin Tomar's smart raiding as they went into an early 4-2 lead thanks to his two-point raid on the two minute mark. They remained in the lead with the score at 7-6 at the midway point of the first half, after which Sachin took over.
His two-point raid at the 10 minute mark gave his team the lead for good, and they kept working to increase the gap. Thanks to Sachin and a combination of strong ankle holds in defence from Ruturaj Koravi and Parvesh Bhainswal, the Fortune Giants went into the break with a 16-12 advantage.
Captain Sunil Kumar set the tone for the second half by getting a tackle point in the first minute, using his strength to secure an ankle hold on Parvesh. The turning point in the second half was provided by substitute raider Prapanjan, who used his length and athleticism to score a beautiful two-point raid, with one of the Paltan players eliminated being star raider Nitin Tomar.
That raid helped increase the lead to 20-13 and gave the team from Gujarat a cushion. Though Pune then effected a super tackle and closed the margin, their attempts were again futile as the Fortune Giants tackled Tomar successfully again at the eight minute mark in the second half to make it 22-17.
The Paltan tried their best to get back, making another super tackle, this time through Ravi Kumar to narrow the margin down to 25-21. They got to within two points but with five minutes on the clock, Mahendra Rajput scored on two successive raids, getting two points with the second raid, to take the score to 28-23.
The Fortune Giants' stout defence also came into the picture when Nitin Tomar injured his knee trying to evade a block and had to be substituted. That was a critical moment in the encounter as Sachin then pulled out the best move of the game, securing an all out that made the score 36-26 to put the game on ice. He took advantage of Pune losing Sandeep Narwal, Parvesh and Tomar, to secure touches on both remaining defenders with just over a minute remaining in the game.
The match was very intense and that showed in the way both teams played with their hearts on their sleeves as the referees had to take out the green card on multiple occasions, twice for Pune's Sandeep Narwal and once for Mahendra Rajput.
Sachin Tawar and Mahendra Rajput both stood out for the Fortune Giants with their smart, opportunistic raiding as they amassed a total of 16 raid points between them.
Right corner Ruturaj Koravi, despite being a little too aggressive on occasion, was able to get his tackling back on track in the second half and finished with four tackle points, one ahead of teammates Parvesh Bhainswal and Sunil Kumar, who provided great support and leadership.
This win allowed the Fortune Giants to complete the double over Pune as they defeated them for the second time this season. Pune are still top of Zone B, thanks to raider Nitin Tomar's efforts, who is the highest scoring raider in season six so far, with 100 points.
Gujarat showed they had the guts and the skill to perform well in front of a vociferous crowd and they used the support of their fans very well to register an important win that took them to 19 points, good for third in the table, having played only five matches.
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