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Puneri Paltan suffered their 12th loss of the group stage on the final match of the league stage. Bengaluru Bulls edged out the home side 31-30 as they warmed up for the semi-finals with the help of Rakesh Narwal and Deepak Dahiya. Two Tamilians – Sachin V. and Ravi V. – starred for Puneri Paltan, but could not pull their side over the line.
After the home team won the first point through Sachin V., Deepak Dahiya won 2 points for the Bulls, while Kenyan Simon Kibura was tackled in his first raid of the match as the visitors established a 3-1 lead after 3 minutes. Paltan’s raider Ravi V. levelled the score by winning 2 points in his 5th minute raid.
The Bulls were down to 3 men in the 7th minute when Manjeet Chhillar was caught, but they trapped Manoj Kumar in a super tackle to take the lead again at 6-5. However, the Paltan seized the initiative and completed an all out on the Bulls by outscoring the visitors 8-1 with the help of a brilliant defence and Ravi’s raids and after 12 minutes, the home team led 13-7.
The next minute witnessed the best raid of the match when Rakesh Narwal used his agility to win 3 points for the Bulls, which started a comeback for the visitors. Manjeet Chhillar enforced an all out on the home team with a successful raid in the 17th minute and with this, the Bulls took the lead. In the final 3 minutes, both the teams won 3 points each as the Bulls led the home team 19-16 at half time.
Puneri Paltan suffer third consecutive home loss
The Bulls started the second half with a tackle point and continued their good run to lead 23-17 after 25 minutes. However, buoyed by a packed Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Kalimithu Balamahendran started a revival for the Paltan with a super raid in the next minute. By the 30th minute, the Bulls’ lead was cut short to just 1 point after Rakesh Narwal’s unsuccessful raid which resulted in the scoreline reading 25-24 in favour of the visitors.
Ashish Kumar helped the visitors increase their lead to 3 points in the 35th minute as the home team trailed 25-28. Kalimithu delivered yet again to make it a 1-point match with 4 minutes to go in the match. Pardeep Narwal was tackled as both teams were tied at 28 each with 2 minutes to go in the match and Bengaluru Bulls were down to 3 men.
Bala was caught in a super tackle in the subsequent raid for Bengaluru Bulls to lead by 2 points in the 39th minute. Sachin V. smartly tagged Manjeet Chhillar to make it a 1-point game with less than a minute to go. However, in a do-or-die raid Bulls’ young raider Deepak scored a point and despite Sachin winning a point for his team, it was not enough as Puneri Paltan suffered a 30-31 loss, their 12th of the campaign.
Bengaluru Bulls finished on 3rd place and set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Telugu Titans while U Mumba will face Patna Pirates in the other semi-final. Puneri Paltan end the home leg with 3 consecutive losses despite a winning start to the leg.
Man of the match: Sachin V
