Jaipur Pink Panthers pulled off an incredible comeback to defeat the Haryana Steelers 37-36 at Chennai’s SDAT Multi-Purpose Indoor Stadium on Wednesday. At one point, the reigning champions were up by ten points, but the team captained by Narender Redhu stormed back to record an incredible comeback, scoring an incredible 17 points in the last quarter.
Aryan Kumar and Deepanshu Khatri each had four tackle points, while Sahil Satpal and Ali Samadi stood out with seven and six points, respectively. Rahul Sethpal’s High Five and Vinay’s Super 10 were insufficient to help the Haryana Steelers win. It was also retaliation for Pink Panthers coach Narender Redhu, who as head coach of Patna Pirates lost to Haryana Steelers and Manpreet Singh in the PKL 11 final.
The reigning champs got off to a commanding start when Vinay opened the scoring and Neeraj Kumar tackled Nitin Kumar. After Vinay was taken out by Deepanshu Khatri for the Jaipur Pink Panthers, Ali Samadi displayed his offensive skills. However, the Steelers quickly started to dominate the game.
Rahul Ahri kept Nitin Kumar quiet in the first few possessions by tackling him again after Vinay’s successful Do-or-Die raid put his team ahead by three points. After the first ten minutes, Shivam Patare scored two two-point raids to put his team ahead 10–4.
Resilient, the Jaipur Pink Panthers rallied with two Super Tackles to trim the deficit to three points at 11-8. But Ashish Narwal, who was a threat on the raiding end, stopped them in their tracks. Rahul Sethpal’s tackle ultimately led to the Haryana Steelers’ first ALL OUT of the game, allowing them to maintain a seven-point advantage at the interval (20–13).
Vinay opened the score for the Steelers, who started the second half much like they had in the first. Rahul Sethpal gave his team some breathing room by recording his third tackle of the evening. Aryan Kumar recorded a Super Tackle and then made another tackle to keep his team within striking distance as the Pink Panthers roared back.
The Jaipur Pink Panthers gradually but steadily recovered with the score at 24–20 as the speed slowed. Before the reigning champs closed the door once more, Sahil and Deepanshu Khatri kept the scoreboard moving. His team leads by six points (26–20) going into the last quarter after Rahul Sethpal finished his High Five.
The last ten minutes of the match were a battle between these two teams, with neither team letting up in this intense match. Ali Samadi and Sahil Satpal quickly gave the Pink Panthers some momentum as the Steelers held onto a 30-26 lead. With less than a minute remaining, the latter went on a rampage to assist his team reduce the deficit to a point with a two-point raid.
With time running short, the Steelers were attempting to play to the clock, but the Jaipur Pink Panthers were not having any of it. Nitin Rawal changed the tide of the match by making his first key tackle of the game on Vinay, who then executed an ALL OUT on the reigning champs, giving his team a one-point advantage.
Vinay scored a bonus point in the game’s last raid before being tackled by Deepanshu, giving the two-time champions an exciting comeback victory in the closing minute.
