It was a painful watch for the home fans when Jaipur was crushed so badly by Puneri Paltans. It took them a while to get even their first point in the game since Paltans were that dominating yesterday night. Manjeet Chillar, the skipper, finally broke the jinx to get Jaipur off the mark in the game 1-11. The skipper really pushed himself to the core with his struggling knee to get through.
Before that happened, Jasvir Singh (the star raider) was thrown out twice and even Manjeet failed his first attempt to score. The home team was really struggling to compete with the peerless Paltans, ending the match in a loss with 30-38. The home fans including the owner Abhishek Bachchan was visibly upset after their near flawless last match. It’s a hard pill to swallow which is understandable.
Rajesh Mondal – The Rustic Raider
The audience would not call him the most elegant raider in the game they have seen, but he makes it up in his shrewdness to score at crucial times. He is one who goes unnoticed due to his less elegant style, but he is damn effective in scoring points.
He took a wholesome 9 points in raids out of his 18 attempts. He was the most dominant raider in the entire 1st half among both the sides. He literally thumped Jaipur with his successive raids at one point, which left the opposite coach and Manjeet fuming at their own defence. The Jaipur defences were so clumsy at one point Manjeet was seen hurling abuses towards Nitin Rawal, which was so appalling. The indomitable Rajesh turned the 1st half heavily in favour of Paltans at score 19-9 at the 1st half end.
Nitin Rawal – The Solo Soldier
Nitin as he always is, so fidgety, very agile, sometimes makes you feel he is restless but he is really fast with his reactions. His game awareness and the way he moves across the synthetic turf is his huge advantage, which confuses the defenders. He tried his very best yesterday to make Jaipur reach playoffs but yet they fall short. His efforts were commendable even during the dying minutes of the match, he never gave up, he pushed himself to the very limit.
Nitin threw Rajesh while defending, stole points stealthily on raids, did a super tackle even at the last few seconds, he did everything. Such a lovely spirit and a never give up attitude from the young man, it’s going to take him to higher pedestals sooner than later. The Jaipur coach was so pumped up, whenever Nitin got a point, seeing his efforts and not to forget the fans where cheering for him. Go well Nitin in the future! Mighty impressive!
Jerky Jasvir – Main Culprit
As much as the hero, as he was in the last game for Jaipur, he is the main culprit yesterday. He was tackled almost every time he stepped inside the box of Paltans. He was mauled, thrown, crushed, deadlocked and what not?
He was out of his sorts completely once Paltans targeted him from the very beginning at 0-4 in 1st half. He was jerky, indecisive, and petulant but never showed his smart daft and turns which he is known to. He was the torch bearer for Jaipur throughout the tournament till now, his off day costs the team heavily just before playoffs.
The technique of attacking him from his back and by pulling his leg proved so effective, Paltans kept repeating, Jasvir never found an answer throughout the entire game. Jasvir jolted.
Puneri Pultans – Game Changers
Deepak Hooda scored lump sum 8 points in total mostly with his smart raids apart from giving away three penalty points in the end.
Girish Maruti, the defender of Paltans, was so good and made significant breaks just when Jaipur was getting into the groove.
Sandeep Narwal was the main contributor the way Jasvir was attacked and mauled from behind scoring 3 points. Ravi Kumar, a surprising package also scored 4 points in total.
Rajesh Mondal was ably supported by all the above mentioned players, it was a great teamwork which
pushed them one step closer to playoffs this season.
