PKL 2019 | How Jaipur Pink Panthers got the better of Haryana Steelers

10/17/2018

Haryana Steelers lost their third consecutive home game on Tuesday as they went down to Jaipur Pink Panthers 33-36 in Sonipat. They have only one win to their name in the sixth season of PKL so far and need to learn from the mistakes that they have committed to succeed in the competition.

Mohit Chhillar’s presence at the right corner proved important for Jaipur

Mohit Chhillar used his experience in the game for the Pink Panthers as a right corner defender and Vikash Kandola, who raids from his left side, had a direct battle. The Jaipur right corner didn’t allow him to dominate and effected some good tackles for the team as well at crucial times. Prior to the game, he had 28 raid points from four games but yesterday Kandola could manage only two. Such was the pressure on Kandola that when he tried to get a quick running hand touch on the left corner Bajirao Hogade by moving from the right he missed it and the momentum took him into the lobby and he had to go off the mat. In another raid, Kandola tried to get a touch on Mohit at the right corner and he pushed him deep as well but failed miserably in getting a touch. Before he could return, Sandeep Dhull came in from the left to dash him out. Mohit’s game awareness and effectiveness helped other defenders to get tackle points in their favour.

Not only against Kandola, but Mohit was also effective against other raiders as well. When Monu tried to get a touch on Bajirao and went deep into their half, Mohit swiftly came ahead of him and stopped the opposition skipper from going back to his half with a brilliant body block. He ended up with only one point in the game but that doesn’t take away the fact that he was effective in the entire game.

Super Tackles that turned the game in Jaipur’s favour

Jaipur Pink Panthers capitalised on a couple of Super Tackle opportunities really well in the second half of the game which proved be really vital at the end of the game. Monu went in to raid in the first minute of the second half with three Jaipur defenders on the mat. There was a Super Tackle opportunity and Nitin Rawal utilised that really well in their favour by dashing out the home team skipper. Monu went for a hand touch on the right corner but Nitin came in quickly to push him off the mat with a powerful dash which required a lot of courage to go for that as well considering the reputation of the raider. The second one came at a very crucial juncture when Naveen’s raiding skills had brought Haryana closer in the game. He went in to raid in the final minute of the game with a super tackle opportunity where the Pink Panthers got in their favour for the second time in the evening to extend the lead. Nitin, Amit, and Selvamani stopped Naveen together in that raid which could have made all the difference. When Naveen was almost at the centre of the mat, Amit and Nitin came in simultaneously from right and left corner. Amit blocked him while Nitin effected a strong thigh hold to get two crucial points in the dying moments of the game.

When Haryana got it wrong with two raiders in the defence

Haryana had only two men on the mat around six minutes into the second half and both of them were raiders – Monu and Naveen. There was a Super Tackle opportunity and opposition skipper Anup Kumar came in to raid. Captain Cool tried to get a touch on Naveen at the left side of the mat when Monu came in for a dash from the other side. They blocked him but Anup somehow managed to escape and touched the midline by overpowering both of them. It was a great effort by Jaipur skipper to take two raid points and they got two points for all-out as well. Had the Steelers have substituted any one of them with a defender then things could have been different at that stage. The four points after that raid increased the lead to six for Jaipur Pink Panthers with around 13 minutes remaining in the game.

Mohit Chhillar’s presence of mind in the penultimate minute

With only 10 seconds to go and three players on the mat for the Pink Panthers, Monu came in to raid with a Super Raid in mind which would have given him the all-out point as well and would have taken them ahead of the opponents, but that didn’t happen because of Mohit’s excellent game awareness. Wily fox Mohit cleverly stood in front of Monu and gave away an easy touch point but kept a Super Raid out of the equation for the Haryana skipper. As they say, you sometimes have to lose a battle to win a war. Mohit did exactly that without any hesitation.