Chennai: In a domineering fashion, Puneri Paltan handed a crushing 34-22 thrashing to Haryana Steelers in the third match of the Pro Kabaddi League, taking home their first win of the season at Jawahar Lal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Monday.
Pune, who had been held to a humble draw in the opening match of their campaign in a pulsating Maharashtra derby against U Mumba, made sure they made minimal errors in grabbing raid points and played an attacking game right from the word go. With the win, a raring Pune team captured five points to move atop the table in Zone A.
The Pune side was leading by 15-9 after the first half and ensured that they did not give away any extra points. Though Surendra Nada, who captured majority of raid points for Haryana broke the deadlock opening the account for Haryana and led the scoreboard. But, it was Sandeep Narwal who pierced through the Haryana defence, taking home the do-or-die raid bringing the scores to parity.
Leading from the front, skipper Girish played a pivotal role in gaining tackle points for his team. But, it was Nitin Tomar who caught Haryana napping and then skittled them all out. In the second half, while, Haryana tried to up the ante in a bid to steal some points, mounting pressure was evident following the replacement of Wazir Singh with Arun Kumar. But, their move backfired when Haryana was caught all-out twice in a row. Haryana captain Surender Nada was finally undone by a feisty Nitin Tomar.
All eyes were on Monu Goyat, the most expensive player at this season’s auction. Goyat was sold at a record-breaking price of 1.51 crore. But, the Pune player was not included citing fitness issues.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]