PKL 2023-24: Puneri Paltan end home leg with a win, Jaipur Pink Panthers back to winning ways

A superlative performance by the Puneri Paltan saw them decimate Bengaluru Bulls 43-18 in the final game of their home leg in the Pro Kabaddi League at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex on Wednesday. The win saw Paltan extend their stay at the top of the table and increase their score differential to an incredible +72. The PKL Season 10 will move to Chennai from 22 December 2023. In a supremely dominant first-half performance, every part of the Puneri Paltan machine worked with precision and synchronisation. They inflicted their first ALL OUT on the Bulls within the first five minutes to take a 10-2 lead. Their defenders in particular were on fire, matching their raiders almost point for point through the half. A second ALL OUT followed soon after, and by this time the Paltan were streaking away into the distance with a 23-5 lead. The Paltan defence missed just three tackles in the first half, taking an extraordinary 10 points from them. They went into half-time leading by a massive 20 points. The home side inflicted a third ALL OUT in the opening minutes of the second half to take a virtually unassailable 33-10 lead. From thereon it became a battle between the Bulls pride and Mohammadreza Chiyaneh’s determination to grab as many tackle points in as many ways as possible. Chiyaneh missed a mere 2 tackles all evening to finish with 7 points (one even coming from a raid), as the Paltan wrapped up a comfortable 26-point victory. Arjun Deshwal comes back to form as Jaipur Pink Panthers beat UP Yoddhas Defending champions Jaipur Pink Panthers gave an incredible account of themselves as they stormed to a 41-24 triumph over UP Yoddhas. Arjun Deshwal got back to his scoring ways as he finished with 13 points. Both teams got off to a cautious start, with the Panthers narrowly leading 6-5 after the first 10 minutes. And then the Panthers got going - Arjun made light work of the Yoddhas’ defence and Panthers’ captain Sunil Kumar produced a brilliant tackle on Vijay Malik to bag an ALL OUT in the 14th minute. The Panthers raced to an 11-6 lead and went on to seize control of the game. Arjun got rid of four defenders in as many raids and a couple of sharp tackles saw the Panthers inflict a second ALL OUT within four minutes. The scoreline read 20-7 in the Panthers’ favour and the Yoddhas were completely undone. The defending champs went into the break with a 15-point lead at 24-9 and they were in complete control of the match. The Yoddhas gained momentum in the second half via two superb tackles from Gurdeep and a burst of pace from Pardeep Narwal offered them hope. The Record Breaker scored points in four successive raids, the last of which saw him get past Ashish and toss aside Lucky Sharma to claim an ALL OUT. The deficit was cut down to eight points and the Panthers led 28-20. But the score difference was too much for the Yoddhas to catch up to, despite their defence shaping up better. The game was put to rest when Arjun produced a mindblowing SUPER RAID in the final minute of the game, which also led to a third ALL OUT for the Panthers. That final raid saw Arjun pick up his third Super 10 of the season and gave the Panthers a massive 17-point victory. This is their third win of the season.