Pro Kabaddi League Highlights: Gujarat Giants, Puneri Paltan qualify for PKL 10 playoffs with big wins over Bulls, Thalaivas

Gujarat Giants become the fourth team to qualify for the PKL 10 playoffs

Puneri Paltan are through to the semis by virtue of being the top team

U Mumba, Bengaluru Bulls and Tamil Thalaivas out of the playoff race. 

HERE ARE THE TEAMS WHO ARE THROUGH TO THE PLAYOFFS: Puneri Paltan, Jaipur Pink Panthers, Dabang Delhi, Gujarat Giants

Rakshit is blocked by Fazel as he charged to the midline. Fazel and Manuj are sent off but Nabibakhsh also seems to be in the crossfire. Did Fazel’s strength propel him to the Bulls half? Bengaluru reviews for three points and this game ends with a super raid. But the Giants are all smiles! They are the fouth team to qualify for the playoffs. 

Arulnanthababu tackles Nitin while Rakshit takes out Deepak Singh for a quick few points to the Bulls but the damage is done and all this is too little too late for Randhir Sehrawat’s side. 

Bulls down to two men. Surjeet had Parteek but the turn and Parteek manages to find his way to the midline. Vikash Kandola is brought down by Deepak Singh. The Giants have a half century of points and have inflicted the fourth ALL OUT on Bulls. 

Balaji takes care of Rakshit. And then comes a super raid from Nitin - Babu, Amit Sheoran and Monu

Surjeet tries a backhold on Nihit, but Nitin turns and slips out from under the big man. Meanwhile, Rakshit gets a big touch on Fazel’s shoulder. Nitin, in trying to run back, slips down. Babu has his hand around his neck. No warning there. But there is a player out of bounds for Bulls. A point each. Rakshit, momentum on his side, gets a back kick on Sombir. 

Fazel says raider out as Vikash Kandola steps into the lobby without a touch. He is tackled but no worries. 

Horrid evening for Babu as he can’t put in a tight ankle hold when Nitin came in on a do-or-die raid. Gujarat also gets the bonus. 

Suddenly, momentum is with Vikash Kandola as he gets Sombir

Do or die raid for Bulls and Vikash has taken out the Iranian duo by splitting the chain. 

Babu steps out yet again. I would not go anywhere near coach Randhir Sehrawat if I were him. Vikash Kandola goes in, attacking the right corner but comes away with nothing. Spent all that time with nothing to show for it. 

Monu brings down Nitin. A rare moment of (temporary) joy for the side. Deepak Singh bring down Monu in turn. We’re down to the last 10 minutes of this encounter. 

Bonus for Nitin. Fazel brings down Akshit. 100% strike rate. He clips Akshit’s frog jump and the rest of the defense steps in to finish the job. 

The Giants don’t even need to do anything anymore. Arulnanthababu steps out. 

Bulls get a bonus. Parteek jumps over Monu. Bulls staring at another all out and it’s done and dusted yet again with the chain ft. Fazel and Nabibakhsh activating to remove Akshit. 

Bulls down to three men now. A few empty raids ensue. Parteek comes in to raid with a super tackle opportunity for the Bulls. It’s a do-or-die raid for Gujarat and he manages a touch on Ran Singh with a solid back kick. 

A few moments of tactical brilliance from Giants. First, Deepak Singh brought down Monu with the Giants doing well to keep the dangling hand out. And then Parteek Dahiya slips out of the left corner sending Surjeet Singh and Parteek to the bench. 

Fazel Atrachali brings down Sushil while Saurabh Nandal makes short work of Parteek Dahiya at the stroke of half time. 

The Giants are doing everything right as they inflict the second all out on Bengaluru Bulls to take a 12 point lead. 

Eight points separate the two teams. But the coach cannot breathe easy as a pretty big box will be ticked. 

Ran Singh holds on to Parteek Dahiya’s leg and the Bulls help keep the lanky raider’s hand away from the midline. 

Brilliant raid from Bulls. Sushil looked like he got at least three points there, but it is deemed an unsuccessful do or die raid. Parteek Dahiya then gets a touch on Surjeet. Balaji D then brings down Akshit. 

First 10 minutes are done, rounded off by a bonus for Parteek. 

HOW HAS PARTEEK DAHIYA DONE THIS? Surjeet Singh, Saurabh Nandal, Monu all fall prey to the raider and the all out has been inflicted. Incredible passage of play for the Giants. Sushil is then brought down by Manuj. But hold on, a bonus and a point is given to Bulls because Balaji D was out of bounds. Rakesh is then taken down as he gets the direction of his dive all wrong. 

Akshit is tentative as he steps into the right corner which allows Fazel Atrachali and the left chain to swoop in to block. Parteek Dahiya then slips out of an anklehold in the left corner. Randhir Sehrawat can do nothing but hit his head in dismay. The Bulls then manage a bonus point. 

Ran Singh puts in a back hold on Parteek Dahiya but the tall raider is able to stretch past the midline. 

Sushil comes through from side to side in search of a point but Fazel Atrachali swoops in to block him. First point for Fazel, first point for the Giants. 

Monu brings down Rakesh. Referees first say bonus but take the decision back. 

Monu takes out Parteek Dahiya to help Bulls open their account. 

The Puneri Paltan put up a masterclass to register an emphatic 56-29 victory over the Tamil Thalaivas in Kolkata on Sunday. The Pune side also booked a place in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 Semi-Finals through the victory.

Aslam Inamdar picked up a few raid points as the Puneri Paltan raced away with a six-point lead in the third minute. However, Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi helped the Tamil Thalaivas get on board through a SUPER TACKLE on Pankaj Mohite. But Mohit Goyat effected a raid and Abinesh Nadarajan tackled Vishal Chahal as the Pune side inflicted the first ALL OUT of the match to take a big lead at 12-2.

Mohite pulled off a brilliant raid in the 10th minute as the Puneri Paltan continued to forge ahead. Ajinkya Pawar tried to counterattack for the Thalaivas, but he couldn’t find a way to breach the Puneri defence line. The Pune side inflicted another ALL OUT and led comfortably at 28-10 at the end of the first half.

Mohit Goyat took out M. Abishek as the Pune side continued to put relentless pressure in the second half. Abinesh Nadarajan tackled Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi and reduced the Thalaivas to just one player on the mat in the 27th minute. The Pune side rode on the momentum and inflicted another ALL OUT soon after to attain complete control of the game at 41-14.

The Thalaivas couldn’t find a way to get back into the contest for the rest of the game as the Puneri Paltan coasted to a place in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 Semi-Finals.

Bengaluru Bulls vs Gujarat Giants form guide 

Bengaluru Bulls head into this encounter on the back of a defeat against Puneri Paltan on February 7. They lost the match 31-40 and it was their 10th loss in Pro Kabaddi League Season 10. 

Meanwhile, Gujarat Giants won against Bengal Warriors in their last match by a 41-32 scoreline on February 9. 

Bengaluru Bulls vs Gujarat Giants head-to-head record 

In PKL history, Bengaluru Bulls and Gujarat Giants have played each other 12 times. 

Gujarat Giants lead the head-to-head record, winning 6 times while Bengaluru Bulls have returned with a victory on 5 occasions. One match between these teams ended in a tie. 

The last Bengaluru Bulls and Gujarat Giants match saw the latter come out on top with a 34-31 victory earlier in Season 10. 

With 7 wins, 10 losses, and 2 ties, Bengaluru Bulls are seventh on the PKL 10 points table with 48 points. 

Gujarat Giants, meanwhile, have 60 points and are fourth on the points table. They have won 11 and lost 8 times.

Puneri Paltan win by 27 points and with that, Pune secures a playoff berth. Thalaivas and U Mumba crash out of playoff contention. Pune also tops the points table with this win. 

Jatin takes out Ahmed Enamdar and the Paltan are down to their last man. It’s a do-or-die raid for Pune too. Gaurav Khatri claims to have a touch on Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi. Referees don’t agree. Gaurav reviews. The replay shows Gaurav getting out of an ankle hold. Bonus plus one point for Pune. 

Looks like there’s time left for two raids. Gaurav Khatri and Vaibhav Kamble bring down Jatin. 

Final minute and a half left. How much further can Pune takes this lead?

Puneri Paltan is looking like the team to beat in this tournament and even though they are taking on a much weaker team, this a perfect masterclass as to why every team should be very scared of this unit. 

Despite some firm resistance from the Thalaivas, Shadloui is leading the pack in defence to snuff out any momentum. 

An utterly dominant show from the Paltan. 

A third all out has been inflicted and the writing is on the wall for the Thalaivas

Abinesh Nadarajan brings down Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi

Jatin takes out Abinesh Nadarajan. Thalaivas substitute Vishal with Sathish. Ronak is taken out as well with Jatin coming in. Pankaj Mohite gets a bonus. Thalaivas rotten luck with raiding continues as Mohit Goyat takes down Sathish Kannan. Goyat follows it up with a touch on M Abishek. Abinesh then brings down Jatin. Sanket Sawant’s brilliant night continues with Himanshu Narwal being tackled. Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi then manages an incredible multipoint raid Mohammadreza Chiyaneh and Gaurav Khatri taking it out. Mohit Goyat then brings down Sathish Kannan. 

There’s a slightly better fight in the second half but the Paltan are just that much better. 

I’ve missed a point in the time I turned away from the screen for a few seconds. Pune has been doing that far too often. Mohit Goyat comes out of a potential super tackle situation. Thalaivas down to one man and that one man is swallowed by the left corner. Second all out is here and the Men in Yellow are being thoroughly outplayed. One Iranian takes out another. 

Gaurav Khatri puts in a backhold on Ajinkya Pawar to bring him down. Pune is allowing Thalaivas no time to breathe. Mohit Goyat seems to have backed that up with a touch on Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi but the Thalaivas will review this. It’s a low lunge put in by Mohit and it’s tough to gauge if that touch has happened at all. REVIEW UNSUCCESSFUL. Point stays with Pune. Perhaps there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the decision. Thalaivas down to three men. 

Straightforward bonus down the left corner for Mohit Goyat after which Aslam gets a block on Himanshu. Mohit and Abinesh come in as reinforcements. 

Shadloui is walking parallelly to the midline, with an air of superiority about him. Right after, Himanshu manages to draw a mistake from him and Shadloui is off to the bench. Oops

The Thalaivas defense seems to be fighting a losing battle here. Aslam is brought down and rolled over. 15 minutes into this game, this team has just one raid point and the defence is doing all the work. 

Shadloui casually holds Vishal’s ankle and that’s it for his movement for this raid. 

Ashish brings down Mohit Goyat. Mohit is caught mid spin and brought down and dragged back. Good work. He does get a green card for neck holding though, which is not allowed in the sport of kabaddi owing to how dangerous it can be for the raider 

Shadloui was itching to get into the action and he does with a solid block on Ajinkya Pawar. Unstoppable force meets immovable object. 

A toe touch and bonus for Pune. But the big news is., Narender is off . 

Pankaj Mohite drags Ronak to the midline. Good thinking of the rest to not swoop in. End of the first 10 minutes and the Thalaivas have just one raid point so far. 

Himanshu has no room to escape as he is surrounded by orange shirts. STRANDED! 

Aslam is brought down by Ashish in very Pune-esque fashion, but a defender is out od bounds. Meanwhile, Sanket Sawant seems to have brought Himanshu down. But jersey pull is alleged and referee sides with the men in yellow. 

Sawant is snatching raiders from the brink of the midline and decimating their dreams here. Audacious! 

Vishal disappears into the Pune defense. Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi finishes the surrender raid. ALL OUT INFLICTED IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ANOTHER SUPER TACKLE but Mohit Goyat’s speed has sent Amirhossein Bastami off the turf. 

Sahil Gulia and Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi hold Pankaj Mohite back to get the Thalaivas’ account open for the night.

Pune raids first. Aslam gets a point by removing Amirhossein Bastami who puts in a flimsy ankle hold. Narender is then pushed out of the flanks. Mohit Goyat geta a bonus after which Sanket Sawant takes out Ajinkya from very close to the midline. Matter of milimetres here. Pankaj Mohite is held back but struggles his way to put his hand past the midline. All this and barely three minutes are up on the clock. Thalaivas down to two men. 

THALAIVAS: Narender, Ronak, Aashish, Ajinkya Pawar, Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi, Amirhossein Bastami, Sahil Gulia

PALTAN: Aslam Inamdar, Abinesh Nadarajan. Sanket Sawant, Pankaj Mohite, Mohit Goyat, Gaurav Khatri, Mohammadreza Chiyaneh Shadloui

If the Men in Yellow lose or draw the game, they are out of playoff contention 

Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the Pro Kabaddi League matchday 65 happening at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on February 11, 2024.

The Pro Kabaddi League 2023-24 matches will be telecast live on Star Sports Network and live-streamed on the Disney+ Hotstar app and website.

Match 1: Tamil Thalaivas vs Puneri Paltan

Match 2: Bengaluru Bulls vs Gujarat Giants

If Paltan and Giants win today, they are through to the playoffs.

Stay tuned as we bring you all the live action.