Merry Christmas and welcome to Sportstar's live blog of the Pro Kabaddi League. This is Shyam Vasudevan and I will be taking you through the PKL match between Jaipur Pink Panthers and Haryana Steelers on Saturday.
Meanwhile, you can also check out our Kings of Kabaddi series from PKL 7 - a happier time pre-COVID when we got to physically sit down with some of the biggest names in the league and hear their stories. You can check out all episodes here:
Alright then, that brings us to the end of our Pro Kabaddi League coverage for the day. We will be back tomorrow. See you then!
That was some game! Jaipur Pink Panthers ekes out a narrow win over Haryana Steelers to opening its account for the season. Arjun Deshwal was crucial in Jaipur Pink Panthers' victory as he scored a massive 18 points, while captain Deepak Niwas Hooda also picked up 10 points. Haryana Steelers skipper Vikash Khandola also had a good game as he scored 14 points.
--
Jaipur Pink Panthers picks up its first win of the season as the former champion defeats Haryana Steelers 40-38.
40-38 Rohit grabs another point here as he gets out of Shaul's ankle hold.
40-37 That's a lightning quit raid from Vikash and he eliminates Nitin.
40-36 Uh oh, Jaideep makes the error and Deepak gladly takes the point.
39-36 That's a stupendous raid from Rohit Gulia! I was just saying that he will need more than a bonus to help his side back into this game and he comes up with a massive three-point raid.
"Let Deepak come close to you and then all four of you go for the tackle," says the Haryana Steelers coach.
39-32 Rohit gets the bonus point but the Haryana Steelers will need a lot more than that with just over two minutes left on the clock.
38-31 The Arjun vs Surender battle continues and the latter takes the point this time. He traps Arjun with a super strong ankle hold.
38-30 That's very clever from Deepak. He toys with the Haryana Steelers defence before getting a running hand touch.
37-30 Vikash is off to the bench! He needs a big raid to help Haryana Steelers claw its way back into the game but he's outmuscled by the Jaipur Pink Panthers defence. Five minutes to go!
36-30 Arjun is well and truly Jaipur Pink Panthers' star of the evening. He's targeted Rohit and gets a touch on his face.
35-30 Surender tries a quick pursuit raid, like he did in the opening half, but everyday isn't Sunday. He returns empty-handed this time.
35-30 Vikash does really well to bring his side back into the game. He gets rid of Vishal with a running hand touch.
That's some duel between Arjun and Surender. It almost seems personal!
35-29 Vikash outwits Dharmaraj yet again. Dharmaraj is a tad too slow to get into the tackle and Vikash escapes with ease.
35-27 Rohit Gulia tries and tries to wriggle out of it but he's sent straight to the bench.
33-28 ALL OUT! Shaul Kumar initiates the tackle and Ashish has nowhere to go. Jaipur Pink Panthers now have a crucial five-point lead with just about 10 minutes left on the clock.
30-26 Arjun wreaks havoc here. He's absolutely bulldozed his way past the Haryana Steelers defence and the opposition is down to one man.
28-26 It's a do-or-die raid for Vikash Khandola but he fails to find a way out of Shaul Kumar's hold.
27-26 There's seems to be no stopping Arjun! He attacks the right cover and gets he better of Surender (yet again!)
Super 10 for Vikash Khandola! The Haryana Steelers captain brings up his career's 16th Super 10.
25-25 Deepak closes in on a Super 10 as he eliminates Rohit Gulia. Rohit has been in good form today and picked up two points from his last two raids.
24-24 Arjun targets the right corner, manned by Surender, and is taken out but picks up a bonus point along the way.
23-23 Arjun Deshwal bags a running hand touch and we're on level terms now.
Phew, what an opening half that was! This end to end action has got me spent! How are you good folks celebrating your Christmas?
22-21 Deepak Niwas Hooda snatches another point off the very last raid of the half as he gets a running hand touch on Jaideep, who has been Haryana Steelers' best defender thus far.
21-20 Surender make a bit of a hasty tackle there and Arjun coolly gets out of the attempted ankle tackle. That's a Super 10 for Arjun Deshwal!
21-19 ALL OUT! Jaipur Pink Panthers inflict an All Out as Arjun Deshwal tackles Vikash to the mat.
20-15 Oh that's just too too good from Vikash. He snatches a bonus point and gets a touch on Deepak.
18-15 Deepak Niwas Hooda has rally exploded in the last few minutes! He evades Ravi Kumar's challenge and Haryana Steelers is down to one man.
17-14 Jaideep makes a rare error! He attempts a dash on Deepak but the Jaipur Pink Panthers captain outfoxes him to grab a point.
17-13 Deepak Hooda gets a point for his side with a scorpion kick on Shrikanth. He catches him on the shoulder.
17-12 SUPER TACKLE! It's that man Jaideep who does the job again as he executes the perfect ankle hold to deny Arjun any chance of getting away.
14-12 Arjun Deshwal claims a big one! He wriggles out of Surender Nada's ankle hold.
14-11 The Jaipur Pink Panthers is finally coming to life! Shaul Kumar, the substitute, does really well to block Meetu and picks up his second tackle point.
14-9 Arjun Deshwal continues to keep the scoreboard ticking with another bonus point. He's already got seven points for the evening.
Dharmaraj Cheralathan is employed n the right corner today in place of Sandeep, who is missing from the line up. Dharmaraj is the oldest player in the PKL at 46!
12-6 Deepak has been ushered to the bleachers yet again with a fine tackle from Jaideep Kuldeep. Yep, Jaideep Kuldeep is the name one person and he's doing the job of two men today.
11-5 What a burst of pace from Surender Nada! He's in an out in a jiffy and picks up a bonus point.
10-4 ALL OUT! Surender Nada with a monstrous tackle to inflict the All Out. We're hardly six minutes into the contest and Haryana Steelers have sped away with this one.
7-3 There's no stopping Vikash! He skips past a meek challenge from Shaul and the Jaipur Pink Panthers are down to one man.
The onus is now on Arjun Deshwal, who had a great debut game for Jaipur Pink Panthers the other evening.
6-2 Super stuff from Vikash as he sneaks past Dharmaraj's tackle and gets a touch on another defender to give Haryana Steelers a four-point lead.
4-2 Jaideep and Mohit combine yet again and relegate Nitin to the bench this time.
2-3 Deepak is off the court! Jaideep Kuldeep shows great power to shove him off the playing lines.
2-2 Meetu does well to eliminate Amit with a running hand touch
1-1 Deepak Hooda off to a good start as he gets a touch on Surender Nada
--
9:45pm: Here's how the two sides will start today -
Jaipur Pink Panthers: Deepak Hooda, Amit, Vishal, Arjun Deshwal, Nitin Rawal, Amit Hooda, Dharmaraj Cheralathan
Haryana Steelers: Vikash Khandola, Shrikanth Tewatia, Meetu, Jaideep, Rohit Gulia, Mohit, Surender Nada
9:40pm: Puneri Paltan has snatched a last-gasp win over Telugu Titans! That was a super intense game that went down to the very wire, phew!
9:30pm: Both Jaipur Pink Panthers and Haryana Steelers will be looking for their first win of the season today. Jaipur Pink Panthers lost 27-34 to Gujarat Giants, while Haryana Steelers fell short by three points in a 39-42 loss to Patna Pirates.
9:25pm: Guys, you're missing out if you're not watching the Telugu Titans vs Puneri Paltan game! The Titans are trailing by a point with six minutes to go!
9:20pm: Haryana Steelers will be led by a young captain this year in Vikash Khandola. He scored 190 raid points last season and was the sixth-best raider. His love for pani puri is bound to tickle your taste buds, but his dedication will bring about a renewed sense of motivation within you. Here's when we sat down with him last season, in the good old days before the pandemic -
9:15pm: Coming to the last game, Jaipur Pink Panthers holds a 4-2 lead in the head-to-head stats against Haryana Steelers. The teams have played out a tie twice in. Will the season one champions manage to extend that tally or will the Steelers spring a surprise?
9:10pm: Speaking of Siddharth Desai, did you know that the muscular raider is actually a great singer and a remarkable guitarist? He was so shy of his musical talents initially that he used to hide his guitar from his family and play it only when no on was around. Here's him, accompanied by his elder brother Suraj, talking about his musical ambitions and journey with PKL -
9:05pm: Hey folks, Shyam here and welcome to the final game of the evening as season one champion Jaipur Pink Panthers locks horns with Haryana Steelers. Before we got into the game, we have a super intense game right now between Puneri Paltan and Telugu Titans. Siddharth Desai is in rousing form and has scored nine points to take Telugu Titans to a 20-14 lead at half-time. My colleague Lavanya is blogging that game here -
Meanwhile, you can also check out our Kings of Kabaddi series from PKL 7 - a happier time pre-COVID when we got to physically sit down with some of the biggest names in the league and hear their stories. You can check out all episodes here:
Hey folks, welcome to another day of Pro Kabaddi League action! It's day 4 of action in Bengaluru and we have three more interesting fixtures to dive into today.
Before we introduce you to the fixtures of the day, here's a look at the results from the first three days -
Comments
SHARE