Puneri Paltan and UP Yoddhas play out hard-fought 29-29 tie

Noida, Nov 19 (PTI) Pankaj Mohite and Bhavani Rajput produced solid shows as Puneri Paltan and UP Yoddhas played out a 29-29 draw in the Pro Kabaddi League at the Noida Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.
    Bhavani Rajput registered a Super 10 for the UP Yoddhas, while Pankaj Mohite score 9 points for the Puneri Paltan.
    Later, Patna Pirates registered a facile 54-31 win over Bengaluru Bulls in the second match of the night.
    Earlier, it was a rapid start from the defending champions as Pankaj registered the first tackle of the game to open the scoring. His side cruised to a 4-0 lead in three minutes.
    After a slow start, UP Yoddhas got their first points on the board courtesy of a Super Tackle from Ashu Singh. From there on, it didn’t take them too long to level the score at 5-5.
    Puneri Paltan managed to inch ahead with a three-point lead, before another Super Tackle, this time from Sumit, got the UP Yoddhas levelled things up again.
    UP Yoddhas steadily found their groove and inflicted an ALL OUT on Puneri Paltan, opening a six-point gap between the two sides.
    V Ajith Kumar’s two-point raid helped them cut the deficit down to two points, ending a closely contest first half with a scoreline of 16-14 with the Yoddhas in the lead.
    It was a cautious start to the second half from both sides until Rajput was on the right side of a Do-or-Die Raid, ensuring the UP Yoddhas stay in the lead.
    Pankaj returned the favour, getting two points in a Do-or-Die Raid to help close the gap for Paltan, before Aryavardhan Navale evened things up at 20-20 with ten minutes to go in the game.
    The defending champions got their noses in front again after Mohit tackled Rajput on a Do-or-Die Raid, followed by Pankaj carrying on his good work on the offensive end.
    Gaurav Khatri’s third tackle of the night, this time on Keshav Kumar helped Puneri Paltan inflict an ALL OUT and move back in front by five points.
    V Ajith Kumar got some momentum, inflicting a couple of quick raids to keep the Puneri Paltan’s lead intact.
    However, Rajput was doing his bit to make sure that Yoddhas stay in the hunt with under four minutes to go and only three points separating the two teams.
    There was no stopping Rajput as he scored a two-point raid, cutting the deficit to one point for UP Yoddhas.
    He completed his Super 10 to even things out for his side in the dying moments, ensuring that the two teams share the spoils.
    This was Puneri Paltan’s second draw in three matches and the fifth tie of this season.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)