Arjun Deshwal and Ankush's brilliant performances at the two ends of the mat propelled the Jaipur Pink Panthers to an emphatic win over the Tamil Thalaivas in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 9 at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Friday.
Deshwal (12 points), V Ajith (9 points) and Ankush (5 points) guided Pink Panthers to a 41-26 rout of Thalaivas that lifted them to second place on the table.Jaipur's successes this season have been on the foundations set by Arjun Deshwal, V Ajith and Rahul Chaudhari and the trio were prolific here too, racking up quick points at the start of the game to help the Pink Panthers take an early lead.
The quick start unnerved the Thalaivas and soon enough they were staring at an All-Out. It took a Super Tackle by Himanshu to curb the momentum. The Pink Panthers inflicted their first All-Out with 10 minutes gone, to surge into a 14-8 lead.
Deshwal and Ajith's raiding prowess was only one end of the battle. At the other end, the Jaipur defence was rock solid facing Narender, allowing the young raider just a single point from his eight raids in the entire first half.
The Pink Panthers went into the break leading 20-13.Much like in the first period, the Pink Panthers kicked off strong early in the second half and had the Thalaivas treading thin ice again. It took a Super Tackle by Himanshu on Deshwal to avoid a second All-Out.
Buoyed by the resistance, the Thalaivas rallied, the raider-defender combination of Ajinkya Pawar and Himanshu chipping away at the lead slowly.However, the resurgence didn't last long though, and with Deshwal back on the mat, the Pink Panthers inflicted a second All-Out to extend into a 33-23 lead.
From there on, the Pink Panthers never dropped their intensity, in the end getting an emphatic victory to move to second on the table.