Jaipur Pink Panthers overcomes Thalaivas

Captain Ajay Thakur completed a super 10 but that wasn’t to be enough as the former champion, egged on by its owner Abhishek Bachchan, held its nerve to prevail by the most slender of margins. Jaipur’s skipper Manjeet Chhillar was as solid as a rock in defence and his assured presence put paid to the home team’s hopes. Earlier, Puneri Paltan too recorded a narrow win over UP Yoddha (34-33) in the inter-zone challenge. 

The humdinger of a contest had its denouement in a photo finish when Puneri Paltan reversed a two-point deficit to make it two wins in succession. Until Saturday’s epochal clash, the prospects of Puneri captain Deepak Hooda being mobbed in Chennai would have been as good as the southern metropolis experiencing a snow avalanche. 

But in the wake of his gladiatorial effort, his name will be ringing aloud in every household. Of the 34 points his team scored, Deepak’s contribution was a sizeable 16. 

That he missed out on only two raids would be enough testimony to the impact he had. He had good support from defender Sandeep Narwal who also had a personal milestone to celebrate as he crossed 200 tackle points extending back to season 1. The half-time scoreline read 18-14 in Puneri’s favour. The UP team put up a gallant fight in the second-half to pull back on level terms after trailing 18-30 with less than 10 minutes remaining. 

At the post-match press conference, Puneri coach BC Ramesh said his team had a good chance of topping its group. “We still have two more matches against Jaipur and Bengal before our home leg ,” he said.