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The Puneri Paltan bounced back to winning ways at home as they managed to cling on to a slender lead and win 29-25 over the Jaipur Pink Panthers at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune.
On a day which witnessed a rare failure from Nitin Tomar who picked just 1 raid point from 18 raids, the Pune charge was led by a host of super tackles, which caused a huge dent in Jaipur's surge to collect their second win in a row.
At the beginning of the encounter, the Pink Panthers galloped away to a sizeable lead until Rinku Narwal's ankle hold on Nitin Rawal triggered the barrage of 'super tackles' that hit Jaipur right throughout the game, thwarting any attempt of a comeback.
It was only in the final few minutes, that the Panthers came a touching distance to take the lead when they inflicted an all-out on the hosts to bring down the deficit to just one point. However, a solo tackle from Girish Ernak and an ankle hold from Akshay Jadhav kept the lead with Pune, which they held on to as they cruised towards a rather comfortable win in the end.
With this win, Pune now have a win and a loss from their home leg while Jaipur has two losses from three games. Here are the player ratings from this game.
Jaipur Pink Panthers
Anup Kumar - 3/10
The Jaipur skipper blew hot and cold right throughout the contest and played more of a supporting raider role to Nitin Rawal and Deepak Niwas Hooda. With just one raid point and tackle point, Anup was not in the thick of things but kept his side in the hunt with clever moves.
Deepak Niwas Hooda - 7.5/10
Deepak Hooda was the standout performer for the Panthers as he contributed in both departments. Three raid points from six raids and five tackle points from five tackles, including a super tackle fetched Hooda a total of eight points.
Mohit Chhillar - 7/10
The right corner defender, who has not had the best of seasons thus far enjoyed a good outing as he finished with four tackle points from an equal number of tackles, including an ankle hold on Sandeep Narwal to effect an all-out.
Sandeep Dhull - 6/10
The energetic left corner defender looked patchy but still manage to pick four points as his back holds and dashes came to good effect through the game.
Nitin Rawal - 4.5/10
Generally a top performer for the Panthers, Rawal looked a pale shadow of himself and seem to be bogged down by his raid points drought, 3 point from 13 raids as he did not put in a single tackle all throughout the game.
Anand Patil - 3/10
The ex-Delhi raider failed to impress in his first start as he finished with just one point from nine raids.
Hodage Bajirao - 2/10
The cover defender continued to have a woeful season, failing to make a mark and on the contrary gifted away points and was subbed off in the game.
Substitutes:
Selvamani K - 7/10
The lanky raider came on in the final few minutes and did well to pick one point from two raids.
Amit Kumar - 3/10
The youngster was pinned down on both his raids which meant that he did not have a great time against the Paltan.
Puneri Paltan
Girish Ernak - 4/10
The Pune skipper's move to shift to the left cover position seemed to go against him as he just managed to pick two points from five tackles, including a top dash against Deepak Hooda.
Nitin Tomar - 3/10
With a load of expectations on his shoulder, Tomar failed to repeat his antics from the season so far as he picked just 2 points from his 18 raids, underlining his inability to pick points.
Monu - 7.5/10
Monu's all-round abilities were on display in the game as he slightly managed to cover up for Tomar's bad outing and picked five raid points from ten raids apart from effecting a super tackle in the game as well.
Ravi Kumar - 8/10
Ravi had a fantastic outing in this game as he initiated two out of the six super tackles and finished with six tackle points from five tackles.
Sandeep Narwal - 6.5/10
The veteran all-rounder's moderate form continued, strengthened by the fact that he finished with just 3 points from 3 raids and an equal number of tackles.
Akshay Jadhav - 4.5/10
An all-rounder better known for his raiding, the onus was on Akshay to bail the team out of trouble from the raiding department but his form, dictated by three points from 10 raids failed to impress.
Rinku Narwal - 4/10
Rinku earned his first start of the season and enjoyed just the one moment in the match with his super tackle but post that, played a lending hand in the rest of the game.
Substitutes:
Deepak Dahiya - 6/10
Deepak Dahiya was brought on substitute and did not make much of an impact on the raiding front but his super tackle in the second half was a decisive moment in the game.
More GB - 3/10
The all-rounder was utilised in just the one raid which was unsuccessful.
