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In a battle of defense, Puneri Paltan edged out the Jaipur Pink Panthers 29-25 to win their first match at home.
So, it was up to the defense of the teams to take them home, and the Puneri Paltan's defense did a better job as they manage to score 18 tackle points to Jaipur's 14 points, to clinch the encounter in their favor.
It was a low-scoring encounter as the raiding units of both sides managed just 9 points apiece, with stalwarts such as Nitin Tomar, Anup Kumar, and the in-form Nitin Rawal failing to contribute much.
Pune's defense was strong while defending with 3 or fewer defenders as they scored an astounding 6 super-tackles.
Their defense was led by their cover Ravi Kumar, who scored a High-5 on his way to 6 tackle points, including 2 terrific super-tackles. Sandeep Narwal, Rinku Narwal, Monu and Deepak Kumar Dahiya too contributed to the defense with one super-tackle each.
Among Pune's raiders, it was just Monu who created much of an impact with his 5 raid points, as the rest of the raiders including the mercurial Nitin Tomar failed to contribute much on the night.
While Jaipur's defense was not as prolific in their super-tackles as their Puneri counterparts, but they still managed to score 14 tackle points courtesy Deepak Niwas Hooda and their corner duo of Mohit Chhillar and Sandeep Dhull.
Mohit and Sandeep scored 4 tackle points apiece to keep Jaipur in the game, and not let Pune's raiders run away with the game.
Deepak Niwas Hooda was the top player for the Panthers on the evening as he contributed with 5 tackle and 3 raid points, which included a super-tackle.
During the last 5 minutes of the match, Deepak's successful raid along with the Puneri Paltan all-out brought the Panthers just a point short of Pune (24-25), but then 3 consecutive unsuccessful raids by the Panthers' raiders saw them lose the game.
Anup Kumar and Nitin Rawal failed to leave much of an impression on the match and could manage just 2 and 3 points respectively.
The Panthers lack the decisive edge and have been a little tentative in their approach to all their games till now. This needs to change as soon as possible for the Panthers to be in a position to assert their domination on their opponents.
They will be next seen in action against the Patna Pirates on the 26th in the Inter-Zone Challenge Week, while Puneri Paltan will continue with their home leg tomorrow evening against their neighbors U Mumba in the Maharashtrian derby.
