) Puneri Paltan recorded their sixth victory in a row beating the U.P. Yoddhas 40-31 in front of their home crowd at the last home game for U.P. Yoddhas at the Noida Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday night.
Mohammadreza Chiyaneh’s brilliant defensive nous saw him log 7 points as captain Aslam Inamdar took 11 to keep his team at the top of the table.
In an electric, high scoring first half, it was the Paltans who started off quicker, not just logging quick raid points but also ensuring the U.P. Yoddhas record breaking raider Pardeep Narwal did not log any for the first 10 minutes of the game.
It was high energy and high-risk play, initiated by Mohammadreza Chiyaneh and Aslam Inamdar which paid dividends. The Paltan inflicted the first All out in the first five minutes to take a 10-4 lead.
The setback woke the U.P. Yoddhas out of their slumber and despite Narwal’s inability to log points, they crawled back into the game.
As it was, it was just the lift Narwal needed, as he logged his first two points of the game in quick succession in the last five minutes of the half, before displaying a remarkable bit of strength to single handedly inflict an All out on the Paltan and drag the score to 20-18.
The Paltan did not let that setback hurry them into changing strategy, and they kept up their game plan and the lead through the second half. In a back and forth period though the U.P. Yoddhas kept them on their toes, and despite going down in numbers stayed within two points.
A Super tackle with five minutes left turned the game into a nailbiter, but almost immediately the Paltan killed the game off. They inflicted a second All out with barely two minutes left to take a seven-point lead, and then Akash Shinde applied the cherry, picking up a Super raid to seal the game 40-31.
