Puneri Paltan, on Thursday (October 2), beat Bengaluru Bulls in a tie-breaker to reclaim the top spot in the ongoing Pro Kabaddi League 2025 (PKL). It was the second match between the two teams this season and just like the first meeting, the second meeting was also decided by a tie-breaker.
Both the teams were locked at 29-29 at the SDAT Multi Purpose Indoor Stadium in Chennai before Puneri Paltan clinched the match in the tie-breaker. With the win, Puneri Paltan has moved back to the top spot in the points table. They now have 8 wins and 3 defeats from 11 games.
On the other hand, Bengaluru Bulls are at the seventh spot after suffering their sixth defeat in 11 matches this year.
PKL 2025: Puneri Paltan beat Bengaluru Bulls in tie-breaker
Even though Puneri Paltan were without their captain Aslam Inamdar, they managed to make a good start. Abinesh Nadarajan opened the defensive account for the Pune-based outfit by executing the first tackle of the half, while raiders on both ends – Aditya Shinde and Aashish Malik – managed to make an impact. For the Bulls, Alireza Mirzaian delivered some sharp raids to keep his team in hunt.
As the half wore on, Puneri Paltan started to assert their dominance. Around the 13th minute, they inflicted an all out on the Bulls after their defenders brought down Akash Shinde. While they still had the upper hand, the Bulls remained in touching distance thanks to Mirzaian’s efforts. At halftime, Puneri Paltan held a 17-13 lead.
The match was evenly contested in the second half as well. Gurdeep and Gaurav Khatri delivered some timely tackles for the Paltan that also included a Super Tackle on Mirzaian – to keep the Bulls at bay. For the Bulls, Aashish Malik tried to turn things around with raids but his efforts were thwarted by the Paltan’s disciplined defenders.
At the end of the 30 minutes, Puneri Paltan had a 22-19 lead. While the Paltan were looking set to register a comfortable win, the Bulls turned things around by inflicting an all out around the 33rd minute and opened up a three-point lead.
Fortunes kept swinging from one side to another before both the teams found themselves levelled at 29-29 as the final whistle blew. In the tie-breaker, Puneri Paltan registered a 6-4 win to clinch the match.
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