Kolkata, 15 th February, 2024: Puneri Paltan knocked the Bengal Warriors out of playoffs contention, beating them 29-26 at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday. The Warriors negotiated a double digit deficit and came close to taking down the table toppers late in the game, but ultimately suffered the loss that shut down any hopes they had of making the PKL Season 10 playoffs. Their loss means the Haryana Steelers need to win just one game over the final leg of the season to seal the final playoffs spot.
The Warriors needed a fast start to the game if they had any chance of a victory — a necessity for their qualification hopes. As it was though, they endured a nightmare. Puneri Paltan raced into a lead, and inflicted an ALL OUT before the Warriors could register a point on the board within five minutes of the game.
The speed of their point accumulation was terrifying and they had the Warriors on the ropes again soon after, the points coming from every player in the Paltan side, in attack and defence. A SUPER TACKLE by Harsh Lad on Akash Shinde staved off a second all out, but could do little to cut the gap between the two teams. With Maninder restricted to a single point in the half, Paltan went into the break leading 18-9.
In a sudden turn of form though the Warriors came out much the stronger in the second period, and within the first five minutes had chipped away to reduce the Paltan's numbers on the mat. Nitin Kumar's SUPER RAID to take out Pankaj Mohite and Tushar Adhavade added the gloss as they inflicted an ALL OUT of their own to cut the gap down to four points going into the final quarter of the game.
In a neck-in-neck final quarter the Warriors threw all they had towards getting a positive result, and even had the Paltan close to an all out once late in the game. Their defence though kept leaking points when it mattered, and in the end the deficit proved too much in the end as Paltan locked up a close victory.
0 Comments