PKL-12: When raiders failed, Puneri Paltan’s defense stepped up, defeating U Mumba by 18 points
In the 40th match of Pro Kabaddi League Season 12, played on Thursday at the Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium, Puneri Paltan defeated U Mumba 40–22, thanks to a solid defensive performance, even though their raiders couldn’t shine. This was Paltan’s seventh win in eight matches, which also took them to the top of the points table based on score difference.
Paltan’s defense outscored Mumba’s defense by 20 points to 6, including five super tackles, and handed Mumba their third loss in seven games. In raiding, Stuart Singh (8 points) was the most successful for Paltan with a late super raid, while Jafardanesh top-scored for Mumba with 6 points. Gurdeep added a High-5 for Paltan.
Paltan’s defenders gave them a 2–0 lead, followed by Sachin eliminating Vijay to make it 3–0. Soon after, Pankaj dismissed Rinku to push Mumba into a super tackle situation. But Jafar struck back, first taking out Gurdeep to open Mumba’s account and escape the super tackle, and then dismissing Sachin. By the 10th minute, the score was tied at 5–5, but Paltan responded with a super tackle.
After the break, Anil dismissed Vishal to give Mumba the lead. However, Gurdeep and Abinesh combined for a super tackle on Jafar to restore Paltan’s 2-point lead. Sachin’s raid revived Paltan, but Jafar’s two-point raid narrowed the gap to 10–9, putting Paltan under the threat of an all-out. Abinesh’s successful tackle on Anil turned it around with another super tackle, extending the lead to four points.
By halftime, Paltan led 15–10, with Vishal and the defense executing more super tackles to push the lead to 19–11. At the 30-minute mark, Paltan held a 23–15 lead.
In the final phase, Sandeep’s points took Paltan into another super tackle situation, but Aslam finally opened his account with a raid after 33 minutes. A super tackle on Sandeep extended Paltan’s lead to 10 points. Soon after, Paltan forced an all-out on Mumba, sealing a comfortable 35–21 advantage before closing the match 40–22.
