GUJARAT FORTUNEGIANTS put up another lacklustre display as they went down 31-25 to Jaipur Pink Panthers in Sunday’s first game at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata. Both teams came into the contest after facing a loss in their previous games and were looking for a win to get some momentum on their side. In the end, however, Jaipur turned out to be the stronger team and kept control of the match throughout to hand Gujarat their second consecutive defeat in Season 5 of VIVO Pro Kabaddi.
Gujarat appeared to be making up for their previous loss to Haryana Steelers and were off to a flying start. Their defenders were not willing to give anything away as they raced to a 6-2 lead in the 7th minute. Jaipur Pink Panthers, though, seemed to have come into the game with a plan against the Gujarat raiders and stopped them from scoring freely to equalise in the 18th minute at 8-8. After the defensive heroics, it was the turn of the Jaipur raiders to make a mark. They inflicted an All-Out on Gujarat Fortunegiants soon and the Pink Panthers took a decisive 13-8 lead. From there, Sachin and Pawan Kumar picked up a point each for their respective teams in the finishing raids as the half-time score read 14-9 in favour of Jaipur.
Jaipur kept the pressure on in the second half and extended their lead to 19-10 in just the 6th minute. Gujarat got back into the game on the back of two super tackles and brought the lead down to 5 points. But they could only hold on for so long as they faced their second All-Out of the night in the 13th minute and conceded a 26-17 lead to the Pink Panthers. Jaipur continued their domination and wrapped up the game with a 31-25 score line. Sachin from the Fortunegiants finished with a game high of 7 points, while Jaipur captain Jasvir Singh scored 6 points for his team.
Both teams now head into the Interzone Challenge Week where Jaipur Pink Panthers face Dubki King Pardeep Narwal’s Patna Pirates on Tuesday, while Gujarat Fortunegiants take on U.P. Yoddha on Friday.