Puneri Paltan jumped to the second spot in Season 3 of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi with an easy 44-27 victory over Bengaluru Bulls at New Delhi on Saturday. Their big guns, Manjeet Chhillar and Ajay Thakur fired when required to bring their team closer to qualification to the knockouts.
Puneri Paltan however, had to ward off the early threat from their rivals who inflicted upon them an all-out. It came in the 10th minute. The losers went up 10-4 at that time and it seemed that the absence of their captain Surjeet Narwal may not hurt them.
Deepak Dahiya had got a super raid of three prior to the all-out. But Ajay Thakur who wasn't in the best of form turned the corner with a super raid in the 19th minute. He dragged three defenders with him to the midline. The Puneri Paltan defence too started functioning well and Surjeet Narwal (Services) made two crucial tackles on Deepak Dahiya and Pawan Kumar that resulted in a handy 19-13 lead at the break. In between, the winners had their rivals all-out in the 16th minute.
The second half was also closely fought till the 32nd minute with the winners leading 24-21, but the inevitable second all-out came in the 35th minute and Puneri Paltan raced away to a well-crafted win.
