When Puneri Paltan got Nitin Tomar earlier this year, they had one thing in mind and that is to get the maximum points from him during the raids. He did start off well against Gujarat Fortunegiants as well. In the sixth minute of the match, Tomar got a Super Raid to his name and he completed his Super 10 in the first half itself, at the end of which the scoreline read 15-15. But his absence from the beginning of the second half was instrumental in Gujarat’s victory as none of the other raiders, Rajesh Mondal and GB More, were successful in his absence. The Gujarat team did well to keep him off the mat for almost 15 minutes in total. Mondal was unable to get off the mark in his six raids and More also didn’t manage to score a point from his three raids. Deepak Dahiya was brought in as a substitute and although he started off on a positive note with two points in a single raid in the second half, he couldn’t manage to keep that form going. 

Tomar came in to raid in the second half after nine minutes of play but with more than nine minutes to go he stepped into the lobby in a do or die raid and had to go off the mat again and could come back only after they were all-out with more than six minutes to go. Tomar again lost his balance and stepped out off the mat with four minutes still remaining in the game which proved costly for them. On this occasion, the raider Ajay Kumar targeted Nitin who was at the right corner holding Deepak’s hand. When Ajay ran across for a running hand touch Tomar’s hand came out of that of Deepak and the momentum generated while Deepak pulled him back took him out. This proved costly as the struggle of other raiders continued till the end of the game.  

Pune captain Girish Ernak didn’t have a great evening against the Gujarat raiders especially Sachin. He looked out of place from the fifth minute of the game when Sachin came in for a raid. The skipper went for a solo tackle from the left cover position with an ankle hold but Sachin escaped easily as he was ahead of the baulk line and his momentum was towards the mid-line as well. A few minutes later, Sachin went for another raid and this time, Girish was at the left corner. Ernak looked indecisive while attempting another tackle. He first wanted to cover the raider but Sachin had an eye on him as the raider turned towards him, he wanted to step back and that is where Sachin got a hand touch on him. A similar incident happened when Ajay went in to raid as well as the skipper looked tentative for the second time and gifted the raider a point as he was caught in two minds and committed himself on that occasion. With five minutes to go, Girish went for an ankle hold on Ajay from the left corner, although other defenders joined him, the grip was not enough for stopping the raider and he escaped with three points to his name. Although the skipper got five tackle points after reviving in the second half, the unsuccessful attempts proved costly for the home side. Puneri Paltan could manage only seven tackle points in the entire game which is four less than the Gujarat side.

Sachin’s all-round show for Gujarat 

Gujarat Fortunegiants were down to only two men inside first 12 minutes of the game after the shirt pulling incident where three Gujarat defenders tried to tackle Tomar and the referee gave it in Pune’s favour and they lost Sachin Vittal. They were on the verge of getting all-out at that point of time and Sachin came in to raid for them and converted that into a successful one. He escaped the tackle attempted by Sandeep Narwal which revived one man for them and one of the strongest defenders of the other team was off the mat as well. After one empty raid for both the teams, Rajesh Mondal came in with a super tackle opportunity and he was tackled by Sachin with an ankle hold and Gujarat had four men on the mat with one-point lead as well. Gujarat Fortunegiants got a new lease of life after that and recovered well to register their first win of the sixth season of PKL.