Ranchi: It was a closely fought contest and an exciting one as Haryana Steelers defeated Jaipur Pink Panthers 30-26 in their last match of the Ranchi leg here at the Harivansh Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium, Ranchi here on Thursday.
The scores were level after 10 minutes in the first half at 7-7 with the game yet to pick up pace.
Finally Jaipur Pink Panthers picked up some much required lead when Tushar Patil produced a good raid and returned back with a super raid as the score read 11-8.
Haryana Steelers quickly closed in and equalised the score to 12-12 at the stroke of half time.
On switching courts, a super raid saw Haryana break free when Ashish Chhokar getting three players which included Jaipur captain Manjeet Chhilar as the score read 24-16.
It was then that the match picked up speed as some good raids from Haryana Steelers saw them increase their lead. Some good raids from Wazir Singh, saw some points getting added to the Haryana Steelers kitty.
Wazir Singh finished with 10 points while captain Surender Nada scored 5 points followed by Ashish Chhokar who added 4 points to the tally.
Haryana Steelers moved to 54 points from 17 games in Zone A and are two points behind Gujarat Fortunegiants. On the other hand, Jaipur Pink Panthers move to 37 points from 12 games.
All the action will now shift to Delhi where hosts Dabang Delhi KC will take on U Mumba in the only match of the day.
