Our clash against hosts Puneri Paltan started off with our former player, Nitin Tomar opening the scoring. Rishank was quick on his feet to remove Nitin Tomar from a raiding frenzy early on. With the onus on our young defence to block out most of the raids from the Paltan, Nitesh Kumar stepped up his game and provided the team with several ankle holds to ensure Monu and Nitin’s moves were thwarted with ease.

Prashant Kumar Rai continued to grab consecutive bonus points, taking full advantage of his height, something he has been able to do very well this season for us. At the end of the break, the Yoddha looked in a commanding position as their raiders were unable to put us under any kind of pressure.

We faced a big blow at the start of the 2^nd half with Rishank being substituted following a nasty injury after colliding with Rinku. The responsibility then fell upon Shrikant Jadhav and Prashanth to lead the raiding charge and they managed to do that effectively, taking our lead to over 7 points.

Sachin Kumar and Nitesh combined effectively at regular intervals to stop Nitin Tomar’s threat over and over again. Amit Narwal produced a sublime Super Tackle that even won him the ‘Moment of the Match’ award. Sagar Krishna on the other hand, proved to be the real underdog for us who wreaked havoc over their raiding unit in the ending stages and provided a stable central defense to the team coupled with quick attacks on the opposition.

By the end of the game, the Paltan looked flat in both their attack and defense and succumbed to us, giving us our first ever win against them in Vivo ProKabaddi. The team would now look to build upon the momentum and take it forward going into the Patna leg where we face Dabang Delhi K.C. on Sunday, Oct 28.