Mumbai, Dec 17 (PTI) Jaipur Pink Panthers defeated Puneri Paltan 33-29 in the summit clash to emerge champions of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 here on Saturday.
V Ajith, Sunil Kumar and Arjun Deshwal emerged as the best players for Jaipur side with six points each on the night.
Pankaj Mohite pulled off a brilliant raid in the opening minutes of the match as the Puneri Paltan took 3-1 lead.
However, the Jaipur side fought back and levelled the scores at 3-3. But Gaurav Khatri tackled Arjun Deshwal and helped the Pune side regain the lead at 5-4 in the ninth minute.
Thereafter, V Ajith stepped up his game as Jaipur levelled the scores at 6-6. Both sides played out a neck and neck contest until Mohammad Nabibakhsh picked up a raid and a tackle point in quick succession and helped Pune take the lead at 10-8 in the 16th minute.
However, Ajith caught out Sanket Sawant and Gaurav Khatri to help Jaipur put their nose in front at 12-10 in the 19th minute. The Panthers managed to hold the lead at 14-12 at the stroke of half-time.
The Panthers tackled Aditya Shinde and inflicted an All Out in the 22nd minute to take 18-13 lead. However, Akash Shinde pulled off a multi-point raid and Pune tackled Ajith soon after to get within touching distance of Jaipur's score at 17-18.
But Ankush tackled Akash Shinde and helped the Panthers extend their lead further. Aditya Shinde caught out Ankush and Sahul Kumar to keep Pune in the game at 20-23.
But Jaipur's captain Sunil Kumar pulled off a couple of brilliant tackle points as they continued to stay in the lead at 27-22 in the 34th minute.
However, the Pune side didn't give up and tackled Deshwal in the 38th minute and stayed in the contest at 25-29.
Thereafter, Badal Singh tackled V Ajith and Aditya Shinde effected a raid, but Paltan still couldn't find a way to level the scores as the Panthers led at 31-29 in the dying minutes of the game.
The Panthers played their cards perfectly in the final seconds of the match and clinched their second Pro Kabaddi League title.
(This report is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)