Pink Panthers pips Thalaivas

Tamil Thalaivas’ wait for a home victory in VIVO Pro Kabaddi 2019 continued as it was pipped 26-28 by Jaipur Pink Panthers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

Having played three matches in front of its blue-clad faithful, Tamil is yet to collect the full monty (5 points). Nilesh Salunke (7 points) chipped in with timely bonuses for Jaipur, which consolidated its position at the top with 36 points from nine duels. Thalaivas has 24 points (9 games), completing the top six in the standings.

Two ‘Super Tackles’ (one each on Ajay Thakur and Rahul Chaudhari) helped Jaipur get a tiny two-point advantage at 13-11 after the opening 20 minutes. With just two defenders remaining on court, Ajay was once again pinned down as the gulf between the two units increased to four (17-13). Rahul finally managed to buck the trend by cleaning up the Pink Panthers defence in the 24th minute.

Courtesy the all-out, the scores were evenly stacked at 17 each, with just over a quarter of an hour to play. A controversial decision from the TV official in the dying moments made a difference at the end as only two points separated the outfits.

Thalaivas coach Edachery Bhaskaran was clearly unhappy with the call. “He made an absolutely wrong decision. Ran Singh went in for the tackle, but Ajay was deemed out. During a review, the umpire will have to look at the complete sequence and not just the clipping,” said Bhaskaran in the post-match press conference.

Earlier, Puneri Paltan humbled holder Bengaluru Bulls 31-23 to escape from the last spot in the standings.

The Pune-based franchise now has 19 points from nine fixtures, occupying the 10th position on the table. Bulls has so far collected 27 points from the same number of games as its opponent. Manjeet (7 points) and captain Surjeet Singh (6 points) were the chief contributors for the victor.

Despite putting in quite a few unsuccessful tackles, Surjeet, a cover specialist, was the best defender on show. Although they boasted fine raiders, both teams relied heavily on their defence in the first period. There was a total of seven ‘Do-or-Die’ raids and nothing demarcated the sides at the break.

At half-time, the scoreboard read 10-10. Puneri looked to have recharged its batteries during the breather, making a statement of intent right at the start of the second half. Paltan called the shots and enforced the first all-out in the 27th minute to open up a seven-point cushion at 18-11.

From that point, there was no way back for Bengaluru as Rohit Kumar and Pawan Kumar Sehrawat failed to get their mojo working. “I am upset that we didn’t even pick up a point. At the end of the league phase, it could be the difference between finishing first and second. We did go for the win, but things didn’t pan out the way we wanted,” said Bulls skipper Rohit.