PKL 2025, Highlights: Puneri Paltan thrashes Gujarat Giants; UP Yoddhas stages late comeback over Patna Pirates
PKL 2025, Highlights: Puneri Paltan thrashes Gujarat Giants; UP Yoddhas stages late comeback over Patna Pirates
Puneri Paltan has truly thrashed Gujarat Giants tonight, one team simply never arrived on the mat tonight. Gujarat Giants raiders simply never managed to get going against a brilliantly organised Puneri Paltan defence. Abinesh Natarajan was magnificent in defence for Puneri, and Aslam Inamdar led his side beautifully. Puneri eventually pulled away, winning the second half 24-8, and taking the match by a 22-point margin.
For Gujarat, the story has to be Mohammadreza Shadloui. Known for his flair, flamboyance, and skill, the Iranian all-rounder did not manage a single point tonight, and generally struggled to impose himself on the game in general.
Shadloui comes to raid with a minute left on the clock. Empty raid for the Gujarat Giants skipper on a truly abject day.
The full-time whistle goes, and Gujarat Giants is put out of its misery.
It’s becoming embarrassing now for Gujarat Giants. Over five minutes gone and it has not won a point since the timeout. Finally that changes as Harish skips through an aggressive Paltan defensive trap to secure two points.
This is match is now petering out.
Astonishing tackle from Gurdeep, locking Rakesh in an ankle hold close to the mid-line. Aditya Shinde now….gets a touch on Shadloui again! Astonishing stuff here. It’s a third all out of the match now.
Puneri Paltans is up 11-3 since half-time, true domination. Once again, the Puneri Paltan rushes and stops Harish from taking any raid points. Its tackling has been truly superb tonight. This is becoming a route now.
Gamble from Shadloui, and it doesn’t work! Aditya Shinde wriggles through his block and the Iranian is off the mat!
Has Rakesh snuck through here? Not quite, hand is almost on the line but agonisingly short! Puneri Paltan is now well and truly running away. Pankaj Mohite removes another defender, and with Shubham Kumar as last man standing, Aslam completes the tackle to inflict another all out on Gujarat Giants.
The second strategic timeout is called, with Gujarat Giants about as far behind as it could be.
V. Ajit gets proceedings underway after the break with an empty raid. Rakesh gets the first point after half-time with an athletic dive to reach the line!
This has been a strange match so far. Both teams have shown signs of risk-aversion, not looking to gamble in pursuit of more points. Sachin now faces a Do-or-Die Raid, can he can’t make it through the Giants defence. Paltan then returns the favour by stopping V. Ajith.
Half-time, and Puneri Paltan is well worth its six point lead. Puneri Paltan’s defence has been absolutely airtight tonight, and Gujarat Giants has found scoring raiding points an incredibly difficult task.
Giants’ skipper Shadloui has been almost non-existent in this game so far, and it will need to see much more from its talisman if it is to erase the deficit it currently faces.
The match-up we’ve been waiting for, Shadloui vs Aslam…Aslam takes the empty raid, then Shadloui does the same. Well that was a bit anti-climactic. Rakesh with a Do-or-Die Raid…and Vishal Bhardwaj steps out! Now Aditya Shinde with a Do-or-Die Raid, and he is tackled!
A pair of empty raids exchanged, and that is half-time!
Rakesh begins after the timeout with a touch point after what feels like an age. Aditya Shinde then wins a point back. Rakesh again! Much better from Gujarat post the timeout. Aditya Shinde facing a Do-or-Die Raid, but escapes from Shubham’s tackle! Parteek Dahiya raids for Gujarat, but Abinesh tackles him to seal his fifth tackle point of the night!
Gujarat Giants raider Sridhar Kadam is forced out of bounds, and Aslam completes the all out! It’s been all Puneri Paltan in these early stages.
We now reach the first strategic timeout, with Gujarat Giants really struggling.
Aditya Shinde is caught by the Giants defence now. Over five minutes done now, and no successful raid for Gujarat yet. Rakesh in a Do-or-Die Raid…agonisingly close but no cigar! Pankaj Mohite gets another kick point.
Interesting to note that Mohammadreza Shadloui has been off the mat for nearly three minutes now.
Aslam gets proceedings underway, and starts with a toe touch for a point! Rakesh starts with an empty raid for Gujarat. A nervy start sees a few empty raids, and Rakesh is caught on a Do-or-Die Raid after taking the bonus point. Pankaj Mohite with a Do-or-Die Raid, and he’s too strong! Shadloui with his first raid, caught by the ankle hold! Aslam now, caught in a Super Tackle!
Rakesh, Shubham Kumar, Nitin Panwar, Himanshu T, Parteek Dahiya, Mohammadreza Shadloui (c), Himanshu Singh
Pankaj Mohite, Gurdeep, Abinesh Nadarajan, Aditya Shinde, Aslam Inamdar (c), Vishal Bhardwaj, Gaurav Khatri
A mouthwatering clash is set to start soon as Aslam Inamdar’s Puneri Paltan takes on Mohammadreza Shadloui’s Gujarat Giants. Stay tuned for line-ups…
UP Yoddhas seals a second consecutive win! Despite being behind for much of the game, it stayed in the game and produced a wave of points in the final ten minutes to take it over the line.
For Patna Pirates, Ayan was impressive, and its defence was strong early in the match, but it seemed to run out of energy in the tank to get it over the line in the end.
Ayan tries to catch UP Yoddhas off-guard with a quick raid, but he gets stuck and can’t escape! It seems the win is headed to UP now…Maninder gets one more point but it’s too little too late!
Three minutes on the clock, and UP Yoddhas has trapped Ayan! Massive moment in the match, you feel. Maninder takes a point for Patna, is it time for UP to start running the clock down?
Maninder gets a touch point to level the scores. Gagan Gowda has had a poor day today, but he’s got a two-point raid now! Maninder can’t get through the crowd again! Ayan gets another point back, and then Gagan can’t get through! This is getting very tight now…
Bhavani Rajput restarts with an athletic kick on Ayan. He then comes in clutch again, utilising his reach to the maximum to secure a touch point. Milan Dahiya is the last man standing for Patna, but he can’t get a point, and Patna is all out. The UP Yoddhas comeback could be on now!
Maninder faces another Do-or-Die Raid, but this time he can’t get through. Bhavani Rajput in a Do-or-Die Raid, bulldozes his way through!
With that we have our second strategic timeout of the match. Yoddhas has closed the gap, but Patna is still ahead by four points.
Ayan is back in….but Sumit sends him back out! Brilliant defending from the Yoddhas skipper as it looks to close the gap. Shivam for Yoddhas, Ankit dives in but can’t catch his man! Or not, the umpire rules he has entered the lobby to early.
Do-or-Die Raid for Maninder…gets the touch point! Bhavani faces the Do-or-Die Raid, gets a nick on his man!
Shivam gets the second half underway with a touch point for Yoddhas. UP is inviting Patna to raid, and it tackles Ankit on a Do-or-Die Raid! Bhavani Rajput then faces a Do-or-Die Raid…can’t make it through the crowd!
It’s been an impressive first-half display from Patna Pirates. Ayan has been outstanding in his accumulation of raid points, while the defence has done a brilliant job at neutralising a dangerous UP Yoddhas raiding unit.
Yoddhas will be looking for more from its raiders including Gagan Gowda, Guman Singh, and Bhavani Rajput, all of whom were might impressive in its victory against Telugu Titans.
Ayan in a Do-or-Die Raid, can’t get the point! It’s a Super Tackle from UP Yoddhas, and Ayan is back to the bench.
That is the final action of the half.
More outstanding play from Ayan! He bulldozes his way through two defenders to earn two more touch points! Eight points already for him today. Gagan Gowda was mighty effective for UP Yoddhas against Telugu Titans, but once again he is trapped in the Patna Pirates defence.
Maninder runs into traffic again, and can’t get out. Shivam Chaudhury does brilliants to leap over an oncoming defender secure the touch points. Ayan is then caught by the UP Yoddhas defence…or is he? No he isn’t because a UP Yoddhas defender has entered the lobby in the process of catching him. UP Yoddhas burns a review early today.
Ayan raiding against two defenders…forces Ashu outside, then gets the touch on Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi! UP Yoddhas is all out for the first time tonight.
Gagan Gowda after the restart, almost sneaks through the Patna defence, but is hauled back by the barest of margins! Ayan lures the defender into the ankle hold and escpaes with ease, Patna is starting to pull away now.
With that, we come to the first strategic timeout of the night. It has been all about defenders so far tonight, with successful raids few and far between. Ayan has looked sharp for Patna so far, while Maninder will be glad to get off the mark for his new side.
Gagan Gowda for UP….inches away from the line, but Patna hauls him back! Fantastic last-ditch defending. Maninder looks to get off the mark, but he finds himself surrounded by Yoddhas defenders. Guman Singh is then unable to escape from a Patna defensive trap.
Sumit goes for the ankle hold on Maninder, but the legend escapes! First point in a Patna Pirates jersey for Maninder! Bhavani can’t escape the Pirates defence, and Ayan executes a brilliant kick to put the Pirates ahead!
Maninder starts with an unsuccessful raid, before Gagan Gowda has an empty raid. Ayan scores the first touch point of the night for Patna Pirates with an athletic hand touch! Guman Singh and Gagan then secure a couple of bonus points for Yoddhas. Sudhakar M facing a Do-or-Die Raid, and Sumit has his first tackle of the night!
UP Yoddhas has won the toss, and has opted for the left side. Three-time champions Patna Pirates will raid first…Maninder to get us underway
UP Yoddhas are the first team out onto the mat, looking to continue its winning form. Patna Pirates are not too far behind, it will be keen to start its season on a positive note.
If the last three days are anything to go by, we could well be in store for another tiebreaker tonight. Anirudh Velamuri has taken a look at how PKL’s latest innovative rule has fared in the competition thus far.
The Patna Pirates vs UP Yoddhas, and Puneri Paltan vs Gujarat Giants PKL 2025 matches will be broadcast on the Star Sports network and streamed live on the JioHotstar platform.
The Patna Pirates vs UP Yoddhas, and Puneri Paltan vs Gujarat Giants matches will take place at the Vishwanadh Sports Club in Visakhapatnam.
Deepak Singh (vc), Ankit Jaglan (c), Sanket Sawant, Maninder Singh, Amin Ghorbani, Mandeep, Sombir, Balasaheb Shahaji Jadhav, Hamid Mirzaei Nader, Thiyagarajan Yuvaraj, Sudhakar M, Ayan, Navdeep, Deepak, Sahil Patil
Guman Singh, Dong Geon Lee, Pranay Rane, Bhavani Rajput, Surender Gill, Gagan Gowda, Shivam Choudhary, Keshav Kumar, Jatin Singh, Mohammadreza Kaboudrahangi, Mahender Singh, Ronak Nain, Sumit Sangwan (c), Ashu Singh (vc), Sahul Kumar, Hitesh Kadiyan, Jayesh Mahajan, Gangaram, Sachin Manipal.
Sanket Sawant, Ankit (c), Sombir, Sudhakar M, Ayan, Deepak, Maninder Singh
Mahender Singh, Gagan Gowda, Bhavani Rajput, Sumit (c), Hitesh, Guman Singh, Ashu Singh
Hello, and welcome to Sportstar’s coverage of Day 4 of the Pro Kabaddi League 2025 season!
We have two fantastic matches lined up today. UP Yoddhas will be looking to continue its winning momentum as it takes on a Patna Pirates side that opens its season today, before two of the league’s biggest stars, Aslam Inamdar and Mohammadreza Shadloui, square off as Puneri Paltan and Gujarat Giants look for victory.
Published on Sep 01, 2025
