Manush Shah’s superb display helped Puneri Paltan, the home team, snatch the advantage from Bengaluru Smashers. But Jeet Chandra and Natalia Bajor’s late charge meant that the adopted home team — the Pune-based owners had a larger cheering squad than the home outfit — sneaked to an 8-7 win in Season 4 of Ultimate Table Tennis.
Manush led Paltan’s revival on Sunday night in front of the largest spectator turnout at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex after Smashers had opened up a 4-2 lead.
With the left-hander winning five of the six points up for grabs in the matches he featured in, Paltan staged a dramatic fightback after the Bengaluru franchise had started on a promising note.
When Paltan was 7-4 ahead after Manush had won the first two games against Jeet Chandra, the team was on the brink of a win. But Jeet pulled off a late heist to keep the tie alive and Natalia whitewashed Archana Kamath in an entertaining duel to spark celebrations in the Smashers camp.
The win wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for Kirill Gerassimenko and Manika Batra, Bengaluru’s star players, starting off on an impressive note. While Kirill surprised Egypt’s Omar Assar, Manika overcame Hana Matelova’s stiff resistance by identical 2-1 margins.
The close contest also meant that both the teams kept their hopes of a semifinal berth alive with just four league ties remaining.
The results: Puneri Paltan TT lost to Bengaluru Smashers 7-8 (Omar Assar lost to Kirill Gerassimenko 11-8, 10-11, 10-11; Hana Matelova lost to Manika Batra 9-11, 11-8, 6-11; Manush Shah & Hana bt Kirill & Manika 11-9, 11-10, 11-4; Manush Shah bt Jeet Chandra 11-9, 11-9, 7-11; Archana Kamath lost to Natalia Bajor 8-11, 8-11, 9-11).
The standings: Chennai Lions (35 points from 4 matches); Goa Challengers (30 in 4); U Mumba (24 in 3); Puneri Paltan (28 in 4); Bengaluru Smashers (26 in 4); Dabang Delhi (22 in 3).
Monday’s fixture: Dabang Delhi vs U Mumba, 7.30 p.m.
