Awas steals show as Haryana Steelers outplay Puneri Paltan 34-24

Hyderabad (IANS): Haryana Steelers began their Pro Kabaddi League Season 7 campaign on a winning note by outplaying Puneri Paltan 34-24 here on Monday.

Naveen Awas was the star performer for Haryana Steelers with 14 points, while Pawan Kadian managed 10 points in a losing cause for Puneri Paltan.

Pune made a strong start as Pawan made a 2-point raid to give his team a 3-0 lead in the first few minutes of the match. Steelers then came back strongly to inch ahead after the first five minutes. It was an evenly-matched contest in the first 10 minutes, but Steelers shifted gears soon after that.

First it was Naveen who picked up a few raid points to help Steelers inflict an all out as they led 11-6 after 12 minutes. It was followed by Selvamani who came up with a super raid to extend Steelers' lead.

Puneri Paltan suffered another all out in the 15th minute to trail 8-20. At the end of the first half, Steelers led 22-10.

The second half saw Steelers execute some great strategies by not giving much space to their opponents.

Naveen continued to pick up raid points at regular intervals. While Pawan tried his best to keep Puneri Paltan in the hunt, he got little support from his teammates.

In another match, what turned out to be a one-sided contest, Jaipur Pink Panthers thrashed U Mumba 42-23.

Jaipur skipper Deepak Hooda led from the front with 11 points while Nitin Rawal and Deepak Narwal also collected 7 and 6 raid points, respectively. On the other hand, U Mumba skipper and star Iranian defender Fazel Atrachali looked completely out of touch as he could manage just a couple of points.

Poor defending by U Mumba helped Jaipur raiders collect raid points easily and even Fazel failed on a number of occasions. Raiders Abhishek Singh and Dong Geon Lee were the top contributors for U Mumba with 7 and 6 points, respectively.

Deepak Hooda gave a flying start to his team after making a stunning 2-point raid in his very first attempt before his teammate Deepak Narwal also succeeded to make it 3-0 for Jaipur. U Mumba opened its account after three minutes, thanks to Dong Geon Lee, who got the better off Deepak Hooda in his raid.

Rohit Baliyan failed in his raid while Fazel too faltered while trying to tackle Deepak Hooda as Jaipur took a 5-1 lead. Few minutes into the game, Jaipur faced a do-or-die situation and their skipper Hooda not only collected 2 points, but also inflicted an all-out as they took a huge 10-2 lead.

U Mumba then tackled Nitin Rawal to move to three points. However, Rohit and Fazel kept on failing in raiding and defending as their opponents swiftly took a 15-5 lead. The same story continued thereafter as U Mumba failed in every department of the game while Jaipur kept making successful attempts.

Towards the end of the first half, Jaipur inflicted the second all-out on U Mumba to go into the break with a massive 22-9 lead.

In the second half, Korean raider Dong's successful raid helped U Mumba touch the double digit mark even as his side kept on faltering at crucial junctures. On the other hand, Deepak Narwal, Hooda and Nitin kept on winning points for Jaipur while their defenders too did well to extend the lead to 15-27 in the 28th minute.

Ajinkya Pawar then joined the party, helping Jaipur win another raid point with 10 minutes left in the match.

While Dong's agility helped U Mumba collect a few points towards the end, it continued to be a one-sided affair as Jaipur registered a thumping 42-23 win in the end.