Pro Kabaddi 2019, Match 51: "Surjeet played through stitches and pain today", says Puneri Paltan coach Anup Kumar after win over Bengaluru Bulls

Puneri Paltan produced an impressive performance to overcome a stiff challenge from the defending champions Bengaluru Bulls as the former registered a 31-23 win from the first match of the night on Wednesday, as part of the the Chennai leg of Pro Kabaddi 2019.

Pune's cover defenders Surjeet Singh and Jadhav Shahaji were superb all night as they both picked up High 5s as Surjeet finished the match with 6 tackle points while Jadhav ended with 5 tackle points.

The scores were tied 10-10 at half-time, but Pune put the brakes on Bengaluru in the second half as they outscored the latter 21-13 with their defense supported well by the raiders. They managed to restrict Pawan Sehrawat to just 5 raid points, while Bulls' skipper Rohit Kumar finished with just 7 raid points.

Speaking after the match, Pune coach Anup Kumar expressed his delight at the win. "I'm very happy with this win because we managed to stop two of the top raiders in India today in Pawan and Rohit," said Anup.

"Surjeet played very well and guided the defense well", he added. Asked about the role of the other cover, Shahaji Jadhav, Anup said "His performance reduced the pressure on Surjeet. I think Surjeet maybe made two mistakes in this match, but Jadhav made just one."

Anup heaped praise on his skipper for playing through injury as Surjeet was seen playing the entire match with his head bandaged.

"Surjeet had stitches on his head due to an injury from the previous match. I would have been perfectly okay to rest him today, but before the match, he told me that he wants to play and he doesn't want this injury to stop his participation in the match. So that kind of spirit rubs off on the team and I think he played brilliantly today", added Anup.

Anup also said that he was very happy with the performance of all his players, but is expecting some improvement from his star raider Nitin Tomar, who he decided to sub out.

"Except Tomar, I think everyone is playing well. He is fit, so that is not an issue, but he's lacking confidence at the moment", said Anup.

Bengaluru skipper Rohit Kumar admitted some mistakes on his team's part as he said, "We played quite loose early. We didn't have the aggression that we usually show on the mat."

"We were tied at half-time, but in the second half, we tried to attack their defense a bit and made mistakes. Our coach did warn us about Surjeet because he has been playing well recently and told us to watch out for his advance tackles. So we were watching out for him, but the other cover defender also played very well today", added Rohit.

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