PKL: Deepak shines in Pune win

Chennai, Sep 29 (IANS) Skipper Deepak Hooda helped Puneri Paltan outplay hosts Tamil Thalaivas 33-20 in the Inter-Zone match of the fifth Pro-Kabaddi League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indore Stadium here on Friday.

Deepak (six points) clicked when his team needed the most. In the last few minutes Zone A team's skipper inflicted an all out which helped his fourth-placed team to climb one spot up with 52 points while the hosts remained at the bottom of the table in Zone B with eight losses in 14 matches.

Apart from the skipper, Rajesh Mondal (five points), Monu (four points), Sandeep Narwal (three points) and Ravi Kumar (three points) contributed handsomely.

For the hosts, skipper Ajay Thakur (four points) and Arun (three points) were the only major contributors. 

Both teams started on a positive note but after few raids, the home team started building the pressure through. The raiders also made their raids carefully which forced the visitors to change their strategy.

Pune then started focusing on the defense but the plan backfired as in the seventh minute only three players remained on the mat.

But soon the fortune turned in the visitors favour as they sent back in-form Ajay to bounce back in the game. 

After that it was neck and neck battle and both teams fought for each point. The last few minutes of the first half saw Tamil struggling with the defence but just when things seemed poor, Donggeon Lee turned it around and made a perfect raid to helpe his team to end the first half with score reading 12-11

In the second half, as expected, the hosts started well. Everything was clicking for the hosts as they took two straight points. But a super tackle helped them to make 14-13 and then Deepak took their team two points ahead to make it 16-14.

The last 10 minutes saw a topsy-turvy battle between both the teams. But with just eight minutes remaining the Pune's skipper stood up to the occasion and inflicted an all-out to make the score read 21-15.

Struggling in the last minutes, the hosts failed to display a good show and Pune once again got them all out and ended their two game winning run.