Pro Kabaddi League 2018, Match 22: Puneri Paltan vs Gujarat Fortunegiants, Player Ratings
Pro Kabaddi League 2018 action moved on to a new destination as the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune hosted the third leg of the competition.
The first match of the Pune Leg saw the home side Puneri Paltan host the last year's finalists Gujarat Fortunegiants.
Puneri Paltan have seemed a well-balanced unit so far in the tournament as Nitin Tomar has emerged as their most valuable asset on the mat with his stellar raiding so far.
The fellow raiders Rajesh Mondal and GB More have also done well to assist him with vital points.
The defence has seen the solid combination of Girish Maruti Ernak and Sandeep Narwal at the two corners with their ankle holds and dashes.
Akshay Jadhav made a triumphant return to the side in their previous encounter excelling in defence and hoped to continue his form against the Fortunegiants.
The Gujarat Fortunegiants went into this match looking for their first win of the season after drawing their opener and losing their previous encounter against the Haryana Steelers.
The raiding unit of Sachin Tanwar and K Prapanjan hoped to get into a good stretch of form as the season progresses. The defence, led by the skipper Sunil Kumar hoped to get their act together tonight.
Gujarat Fortunegiants beat the Puneri Paltan 34-28 after a good all-round performance on the mat from last year's finalists.
Puneri Paltan
Nitin Tomar - (8/10)
The lead raider for the Puneri Paltan continued his stellar form this season and pulled off a stunning Super Raid early in the match tonight. He scored his Super 10 in the first half of the match and had scored eleven out of Puneri Paltan's fifteen in the half.
Ravi Kumar - (2/10)
The cover defender did not have a bright outing tonight as he put in a couple of hasty tackles that cost the team points.
Girish Maruti Ernak - (6/10)
The Puneri Paltan committed a few errors in the first match against Sachin Tanwar but made amends when he pulled off a Super Tackle towards the end of the half. He was strong in the second half and scored his High 5 on the night notching 6 tackle points in the match.
Rajesh Mondal - (2/10)
The experienced raider found it difficult to get going against a compact Gujarat Fortunegiants defence and finished with 0 points in the first half.
GB More - (3/10)
The all-rounder managed a good tackle point in the first half of the match but looked ineffective in his raiding. He was substituted off in the second half of the match as Deepak Kumar Dahiya came on to replace him in the seven.
Sandeep Narwal - (2/10)
The energetic Sandeep Narwal was not in his true element tonight as he gave away a couple of easy raid points to Sachin Tanwar from the right corner.
Akshay Jadhav - (3.5/10)
The all-rounder had an off-night today on the mat as he did not manage a single raid point for the team. Jadhav was unable to make a mark on the defensive side of things as well, like he had done in the previous match.
Substitutes:
Deepak Kumar Dahiya - (5/10)
The lanky raider came on in the second half of the match and did well in the absence of the main man Nitin Tomar picking up a few crucial raid points.
Shubam Shinde - (2/10)
The all-rounder came on in the second half of the match but did not manage to make a positive impact on the team.