Puneri Paltan outplay the defending champions Bengal Warriors by 39-27 as they looked helpless in far too many passages during the clash. While Paltans have had a very poor season so far, the franchise from Maharashtra will have their noses in front with a resounding win over a champion side. Raider Aslam Inamdar was the star for Paltans with 17 points to his name.
It was a dominating show from the Paltan who were at 11th spot on the points table before the clash as Inamdar, Abinesh Natrajan and others were just too good for Bengal Warriors here. The defending champions will be in shock after this massive defeat.
Maninder Singh tried hard to keep Bengal Warriors alive in the game. Maninder scored yet another Super 10, as he has in the last five games Bengal has played, but once more, he seemed to be fighting this battle alone. The dependence on Maninder and Mohammad Nabibakhsh cost Bengal dearly. Amit Narwal seemed to have decided that he would help Inamdar score points today as he kept being taken out by the imperious allrounder. Pune got their second all out in the third minute of the second half to open with a 12-point lead.
Earlier Bengal started well in the first half, leading 5-3 at one stage. The Paltans bounced back quickly scoring six points in the next six minutes while conceding only one. Bengal could not recover from the counter attack by Pune led by Nitin Tomar. At half-time Paltans were ahead by 21-11 and Bengal were way too far off to stage a comeback in the second half.
In the end, Puneri Paltan held win the game comprehensively. The win sees Puneri Paltan go up to ninth place from 11th, just below Bengal Warriors who is placed eighth on the points table. With plenty of matches to go, teams should be wary of Pune given their one-sided victory against Warriors.
