PKL Season 6, Match 28: Pune take the Bulls by the horns to make it 3 consecutive wins
Puneri Paltan defeated Bengaluru Bulls 27-25 in a thriller of a contest at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune in the Pro Kabaddi 2018.
The low-scoring contest was filled with defensive flashes of brilliance as both the teams went blow-for-blow to curb the opposition's raiding scores.
Going into the final raid of the match, the score was 25-26 with Pune leading by a solitary point, and it was all up to the experienced Kashiling Adake to clinch a point to tie or score more to win the match for the Bulls. But Rinku Narwal with an ankle hold at the left corner foiled Kashi's and Bulls' plans and got his team the crucial winning points.
While Nitin Tomar (3 points) was kept quiet by the Bulls' defence, Akshay Jadhav emerged Pune's top raider with 5 points. Akshay with his versatility (10 raid and 6 tackle points this season) has shown what he is capable of if given regular opportunities and would be a vital cog in Pune's wheels on their way to the playoffs.
While Girish Ernak failed to score even a single tackle point, he was effective in organizing the defence into efficient tackle formations. Ravi Kumar (3 points), Shubham Shinde (3 points), Monu (2 points), and Rinku Narwal (2 points) were the major contributors to Pune's defensive total.
Bengaluru Bulls, on the other hand, failed to win as Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, their raiding machine this season, could manage just 6 raid points.
This somehow displays the over-reliance of the Bulls' on Pawan for scoring raids, and for winning the matches. The experienced raiders, Kashiling Adake (4 points) and Rohit Kumar (3 points) failed to step up and contribute much to the raiding total of the Bulls.
Surprisingly, Kashi was the Bulls' top defender with 4 tackle points and was supported well by Sandeep with 3 and Ashish Sangwan with 2 tackle points.
While the defence of the Bulls is much more consistent (11.33 average tackle points, the third highest in the competition), the attack has to stop revolving around a single raider and distribute responsibility in order to remain significant.
The Bulls will be next seen in action against the Haryana Steelers on Wednesday, the 24th, while Puneri Paltan will play against the Tamil Thalaivas tomorrow evening as part of the Inter-zone Challenge Week.
Click here to get the team standings in the Pro Kabaddi Points Table.