‘Ab to sharam karle RCB’ – Fans praise Puneri Paltan as they bag maiden Pro Kabaddi League title, beat Haryana Steelers in the final

Puneri Paltan is one of the oldest teams in the Pro Kabaddi League’s history, has finally won the title. Over the nine seasons (excluding the recently concluded season 10), the team only made it to the finals once, i.e. in season 9. They lost to Jaipur Pink Pirates or the brilliance of V Ajith Kumar, who didn’t have the best season before the final.

For the first two seasons, they came last, followed by a third-place finish in seasons three and four. Since then, they have missed the playoffs only twice and became one of the most consistent sides. This time around, they seemed to have coined the Bazball from the game of cricket. During the league stages, they had this idea of going for the kill whether in defending or raiding.

They were so good that they lost only two games out of 22 during the league stages and topped the table. In most games, they didn’t go for playing for Do or Die raid and killing the clock, which most teams do in the game. This was the reason why they had the best score difference (+253). In the semifinal game against the three-time winners, Patna Pirates, Paltan won by 37-21.

Puneri Paltans were put under pressure by the Haryana Steelers but the Orange Army made it out

In the final, the Maharashtra-based team played against the first-time finalists, Haryana Steelers, who surprised everyone by beating the reigning champions, Jaipur Pink Panthers in the semis. The Haryana-based team managed to put some pressure against the table toppers of the season in the first 10 minutes and the game was hanging in balance. However, at the end of the first half, Pankaj Mohite managed to execute a super raid to take out the likes of Jaideep Dahiya, Vinay, Rahul Sethpal, and Mohit.

At this stage, the all-out was inevitable for the Steelers, only for Vishal Tate to deny the opposition the same. However, Goyat taking out the likes of Ashish and Mohit Nandal put a further dent in the opposition and they never recovered. Even though the Steelers lost by three points, they were out of the game for most of the second half.

This is how Twitter reacted