Welcome to Sportstar's coverage of the Pro Kabaddi League. This is Nihit Sachdeva and I will be taking you through today's PKL 8 match between Bengaluru Bulls and Puneri Paltan.
Before you leave, do take some time to vote for your favourite athletes/teams in the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards. CLICK HERE TO VOTE
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:
Second game of the triple panga night - U Mumba vs Telugu Titans - has started. You can follow my colleague Shyam Vasudevan's live coverage here:
Summary: Keep Pawan Sehrawat off the mat for as long as possible and the chances are that you will win the game against Bengaluru Bulls - a strategy that perfectly makes sense but looks easy only on paper. But guess what, Anup Kumar's Puneri Paltan have executed it today and caused a huge upset. Raider Mohit Goyat's all-round performance, defender Sombir's High Five and sufficient support from the rest of the team made sure that the Bulls were always chasing the Paltan and ultimately failed to catch them. Puneri Paltan pick five massive points to keep their play-off hopes alive. On the other hand, losing by just two points gives the Bulls one point and they stay at second but they would have definitely hoped for more from this encounter.
35-37: Last raid of the match. Mohit Goyat is the raider. Bengaluru playing a high line to stop him from crossing the baulk line. Mohit tries to get his foot across it, Bharat Naresh goes for his ankle and unfortunately for the Bulls, it's an unsuccessful one. Mohit gets his Super 10. WHAT AN UPSET . Puneri Paltan beat Bengaluru Bulls 37-35!!!!
35-36: A quick raid by Bharat Naresh and the right corner goes for his ankle. The defender fails and it is a touch point. Four seconds to go!
34-36: Pawan, what did you do! Sub Shubham Shelke was in for the raid, it looked like he would go back empty handed but then Pawan decided to go for the dash and push him off the mat. However, Shubham gest his hand across the line without much fuss. Ten seconds to go!
34-35: Not this time, Karamvir. Three defenders including him on the mat, he tries an ankle hold on Pawan but does not get the support. Forty seconds left.
33-35: Nitin Tomar is the raider, less than a minute on the clock, goes for the bonus but does not get and then is taken down by the Bulls defense. As it turns out, their review game is superb today as another successful review by Puneri Paltan leads to them getting the bonus.
32-34: Sanket Sawant goes solo to tackle Bharat Naresh but the raider comfortably jumps over him and escapes.
31-34: Careless mistake from Aslam as he tries a back kick on the right corner but ends up slipping. He steps out of bounds and gifts a point to Bulls.
29-34: Aslam Inamdar in for the raid, Super tackle is on, but he is brave enough to go deep and get a touch point off the left corner.
29-33: Excellent from Deepak Narwal as he picks up a bonus. They need to keep getting the points whichever way possible. Another brilliant review by Puneri Paltan and the bonus has been taken back.
29-33: Karamvir goes for Pawan's ankle hold and gets it. The star raider is off again. This is certainly not going to help Bengaluru.
29-32: Aman with the ankle hold on Mohit Goyat on the left corner.
Final strategic time-out. The Bulls can still overcome this four-point defense. For that though, they need Pawan on the mat for the remaining five minutes.
28-32: Deepak Narwal picks up a bonus point.
27-32: SUPER TACKLE!! Saurabh Nandal comes up with one of the best ankle holds on Aslam Inamdar and the young raider is unable to free himself.
25-32: HIGH FIVE FOR SOMBIR! The defender takes care of Chandran Ranjith to reach the milestone.
25-31: Bharat Naresh goes in for the raid, sees that the defense is closing in on him and tries a dubki to make his way back.
25-30: My word that was close! The entire Bengaluru defense had to give their everything to somehow stop Aslam Inamdar from getting his hand over the line.
24-30: Karamvir picks up the Hi-Flyer! Effective back hold on Pawan Sehrawat from the left corner.
24-29: Pawan Sehrawat picks up a bonus point.
First Strategic time-out.
23-29: Aslam Inamdar waits and waits, picks up a bonus despite a high line played by Bengaluru and then pushes Mohit Sehrawat easily to get his hand across the mid-line.
23-27: Needless back hold on Bharat from Nitin from the right and he has gifted a touch point.
22-27: Bharat Naresh goes in for the raid but comes back without much work as Sanket Sawant has been ruled self-out.
20-26: Mohit Goyat, you simply can't stop him. Another do-or-die raid, the error comes from Mahendra and Pawan on the bench is livid.
19-25: Sanket Sawant with an unsuccessful tackle on Chandran Ranjith.
18-25: Mohit Goyat is on fire today! This time he gets in a great ankle hold on Pawan Sehrawat.
18-24: Nitin Tomar is just too strong for the Bulls defense to handle. Despite their best attempts, he gets away and sends two players on the bench.
18-22: A back kick from Pawan on who else but Aslam Inamdar. It is a repeat of the first point he got.
17-22: ALL OUT!!!! Mahendra goes in for the raid, picks up a bonus but is probably not made for these sort of situations where he has to get a touch point too in order to revive someone. He has been taken down easily.
16-19: Amazing! It was a do-or-die raid for Mohit Goyat, He took his time and then went the defense went for him, he cleverly found his way out picking two touch points. Second all out on the cards for Bulls as only Mahendra is left on the mat.
16-17: You bet they can! The Puneri Paltan left a gap for Pawan to pick up a bonus, the raider went for him and then Aslam and Nitin took him down in great display of team work.
The Paltan has done well to keep Pawan off the mat for a significant part of the first half. Can they repeat it?
HALF-TIME: Bengaluru Bulls 15-16 Puneri Paltan
15-16: Perfect ankle hold on Bharat Naresh by Mohit Goyat and the raider is off. Mohit does in in offense, Mohit does it in defense.
15-15: Nitin Tomar! It was a do-or-die raid for the big man from Puneri Paltan, the Bulls defense waited patiently as the clock ran down but then all of a sudden, Saurabh and Ranjith went for him gifting two touch points.
15-13: Pawan Sehrawat did not need to do much this time as the pressure he created led to Karamvir on the left corner stepping out of bounds on his own.
14-13: Pawan picks up another touch point as Sombir goes for his thighs but gets no support from others.
13-13: Do-or-die raid, Aslam Inamdar goes in and he has straight away walked into the Bulls defense trap.
12-13: Easy touch point for Pawan Sehrawat. The culprit - Abinesh Nadarajan.
11-13: Pawan Sehrawat picks up a bonus point.
10-13: ALL OUT!!! And that man was Pawan Sehrawat. Pawan went in for the raid, managed to get a bonus but that was all he could do as the Puneri Paltan defense tackles him.
9-10: Nice review by Puneri Paltan. Mohit Goyat went in for the raid, claimed a touch on Mohit Sehrawat at left corner but didn't get a point. The replays showed that he got the slightest of the touches on the shoulder and therefore, the Bulls are down to one man again.
9-9: Sub Deepak Narwal helps Bulls avoid the all out as Karamvir goes in for a thigh hold but fails. He got the bonus as well.
7-9: Mohit Goyat gets an easy touch on Mahendra and the Bulls are down to a single man.
7-8: Deepak Narwal picks up a bonus point.
6-8: Great work on the do-or-die raid by Mohit Goyat as he takes both corners of the Bulls, Saurabh Nadal and Aman, off. Bulls have lost their review contesting that Goyat had been pushed off the mat.
6-6: Puneri Paltan defense has been decent so far in this game and it continues. This time, they tackle Bharat Naresh and it is even stevens once again.
6-5: Bonus for Bharat Naresh.
5-5: Do-or-die raid for Mohit Goyat and the young raider understandably goes a little too deep since there was no bonus for the taking. However, he does not make it back as the Bulls defense is on to him in a flash.
4-5: Sanket Sawant with a massive block on Ranjith and the raider is off to the bench.
4-4: And he is off again! Pawan picks up a bonus but has been pushed off the mat before he could make his way back.
3-3: Crucial double thigh hold from left corner Aman on Aslam. Pawan Sehrawat is back on the mat.
2-3: Chandran Ranjith picks up a bonus.
1-3: All-rounder Mohit Sehrawat tries to push Aslam off the mat with a dash. However, no harm done to the raider who returns safely with a point.
1-2: Pawan has been taken down! That will give some confidence to the Puneri Paltan defense.
1-1: Hi-Flyer Pawan Sehrawat starts off in style with a back kick on Aslam Inamdar.
0-1: Aslam Inamdar goes in for the opening raid and picks up a bonus.
-----------
TOSS - Bengaluru Bulls win the toss. Puneri Paltan to raid first.
LINE-UPS!!!
Bengaluru Bulls: Pawan Sehrawat (c), Chandran Ranjith, Saurabh Nandal, Ankit, Mahendra Singh, Mohit Sehrawat, Aman
Puneri Paltan: Nitin Tomar (c), Mohit Goyat, Abinesh Nadarajan, Aslam Inamdar, Karamvir, Sombir, Sanket Sawant
7:15PM: Head-to-head stats: Matches played - 13, Matches won by Puneri Paltan - 7, Matches won by Bengaluru Bulls - 6, Last meeting - Bengaluru Bulls won 40-29
7:05PM: Coach Anup Kumar's Puneri Paltan's season seemed to have finally taken off with two wins in a row. But with two consecutive losses post that, all the momentum looks gone. The team needs to improve massively to keep their play-off hopes alive. The raiding department, barring Aslam Inamdar, has been an issue all season and it is no surprise that they are last in the league in terms of average raid points. Against a strong unit like Bengaluru Bulls, it certainly won't be easy for Puneri Paltan to get things back on track but since they almost have nothing to lose now and everything to gain, we could see an upset today.
6:55PM: It's the match between the second from top and the second from bottom. Bengaluru Bulls vs Puneri Paltan. Both teams come into this fixture on the back of two consecutive defeats. However, for Hi-Flyer Pawan Sehrawat's Bengaluru Bulls, their last defeat, a 39-40 loss to Bengal Warriors was a nightmare. The Bulls were comfortably ahead when a freak raid by Mohammad Nabibakhsh turned the game on its head . Randhir Singh's men would look to put that defeat's memory behind them and find their winning form back since they are just two points ahead of the fourth-placed U.P. Yoddha and a further slip-up here would only bring more trouble.
6:45PM: The 2022 edition of the Sportstar Aces Awards is back and we are celebrating the marvellous year for Indian Sports that 2021 was. From Neeraj Chopra and the other Olympic and Paralympic medallists to the Indian cricket team, we have a bunch of nominees who need your vote to win! Support your favourite athlete/team here .
6:35PM: Another helpful reminder of the rules. If you need it!
6:30PM: Hello folks! Welcome to our live coverage of the first game of the evening between Bengaluru Bulls and Puneri Paltan. Before we get to that, here is our review of the season so far by my colleague Lavanya Lakshminarayanan -
Comments
SHARE