Puneri Paltan vs Haryana Steelers: Head-to-Head Record, Stats & Rivalry
One of these teams had never won a title before their first meeting in a PKL final. The other had never even reached one. Somebody’s kabaddi story was always going to change forever at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium that night, and the way it unfolded still gets brought up whenever these two teams share the mat.
Puneri Paltan and Haryana Steelers have met 14 times through the end of Season 10, with Puneri Paltan holding the edge at 8 wins to Haryana’s 5, and 1 match ending tied. Their most significant meeting came in the Season 10 final, played on March 1, 2024, where Puneri Paltan beat Haryana Steelers 28-25 to win their first-ever PKL title.
This guide breaks down the full history between these two franchises, what happened in the final that changed both teams’ trajectories, and why this matchup remains one of the storylines fans keep coming back to from recent PKL seasons.
Complete Head-to-Head Record
Through the end of Season 10, Puneri Paltan hold a clear lead in this fixture, winning 8 of their 14 meetings against Haryana Steelers, with the Steelers picking up 5 wins and 1 match ending tied.
| Stat | Record |
|---|---|
| Total Matches Played (through Season 10) | 14 |
| Puneri Paltan Wins | 8 |
| Haryana Steelers Wins | 5 |
| Matches Tied | 1 |
| Season 10 Final Result | Puneri Paltan won 28-25 |
Puneri Paltan’s lead in this rivalry built up gradually as both franchises grew into genuine title contenders, with their most decisive statement coming at exactly the moment it mattered most, on the biggest stage the league offers. What makes this record notable is how recent Haryana Steelers’ rise has been. The franchise only joined the league in Season 5, meaning both teams have built this entire rivalry within a fairly compressed timeframe compared to matchups involving PKL’s founding franchises, yet it has still produced two consecutive title-deciding finals between them.
The Season 10 Final: History for Both Franchises
Neither team arrived at this final as a complete surprise. Puneri Paltan finished first on the Season 10 points table after an outstanding league stage, winning 17 of 22 matches. Haryana Steelers finished fifth in the same league stage, then produced one of the biggest playoff runs in recent PKL history to reach their first-ever final, stunning defending champions Jaipur Pink Panthers along the way.
The final itself, played at the GMC Balayogi Sports Complex in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, turned into a tense, low-scoring defensive battle. Puneri Paltan raider Pankaj Mohite delivered a key nine-point performance when the game hung in the balance, while Mohit Goyat ran the clock down in the final raid to seal the win.
Haryana Steelers made a late push, bringing in Siddharth Desai with roughly 90 seconds remaining, and he responded immediately with a Super Raid. It was not enough to overcome Puneri Paltan’s lead, but it reflected the kind of fight Haryana had shown throughout their surprising run to the final. For a full breakdown of how PKL’s playoff format works, including how a fifth-placed team can still reach the final the way Haryana Steelers did that season, our PKL playoffs schedule guide explains every stage of the modern knockout bracket.
This win gave Puneri Paltan their first PKL title after finishing runner-up the season before, continuing a pattern common across the league where near-misses eventually turn into championships. Our PKL season history guide covers every one of these title breakthroughs across all twelve completed seasons.
Where This Rivalry Has Played Out
PKL’s caravan format means these two teams have met in venues across the country rather than at fixed home stadiums each season. The Season 10 final took place in Hyderabad, a neutral host city for both franchises, which arguably made the atmosphere feel more evenly balanced than a final hosted in either team’s own home city might have.
Our full explanation of how PKL selects its host cities each season, including why the final leg’s venue typically doubles as the playoff host, is covered in our PKL venues guide, which breaks down the caravan system these two franchises have competed under since Haryana Steelers joined the league.
Regular season meetings between the two teams have been spread across whichever cities happened to be hosting during a given leg, meaning fans in a wide range of host cities have had the chance to see this rivalry play out live over the years, not just supporters based near either franchise’s own city.
How Squad Building Shaped Both Title Runs
Neither team’s Season 10 final appearance happened by accident. Puneri Paltan’s roster construction that season reflected years of careful auction and retention decisions, building a genuinely well-rounded squad capable of contributing across every position rather than depending on one or two stars.
Haryana Steelers took a different route, developing younger talent like Shivam Patare while building a defense capable of frustrating even the league’s best raiders. Understanding how retention rules work, including how a franchise decides which pieces to protect ahead of an auction, is covered in our PKL Season 13 retained players guide, which explains the same retention system both of these franchises have used to build their title-contending rosters.
The contrast between these two approaches, Puneri Paltan’s steady accumulation of talent since 2014 against Haryana Steelers’ rapid development after joining in Season 5, is part of what makes their meetings worth analyzing beyond just the final scoreline.
Coaching Storylines Behind This Final
This match carried an extra layer of narrative weight because of the coaches involved. Manpreet Singh, coaching Haryana Steelers, had already been in three PKL finals as a coach and lost all three, first with Gujarat Giants in Seasons 5 and 6, and now with Haryana Steelers in Season 10. His path to finally winning a title one season later, in the Season 11 rematch discussed elsewhere on this site, adds real depth to how this rivalry connects across multiple seasons.
Puneri Paltan’s coaching situation at the time reflected a franchise finally putting the pieces together after Fazel Atrachali’s captaincy had guided a young, inexperienced squad through a difficult Season 9 final loss the year before. For a complete look at every current PKL head coach and how their track records shape these franchises, our PKL head coaches guide profiles every team’s coaching setup in detail.
Key Players Who Defined This Matchup
Mohit Goyat and Pankaj Mohite: Puneri Paltan’s Balanced Attack
Puneri Paltan’s raiding depth was on full display in the Season 10 final, with Pankaj Mohite stepping up in the biggest moments while Mohit Goyat closed out the match with composure under pressure. This balanced approach, spreading scoring responsibility across multiple raiders rather than relying on one star, has been a hallmark of Puneri Paltan’s identity since their earliest seasons.
Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh: Puneri Paltan’s Defensive Anchor
Puneri Paltan’s defense in Season 10 was led by Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh, who racked up 97 tackle points across the season, just four away from what was then the highest single-season tackle point tally in PKL history. His performance throughout that campaign, including in the final itself, showed why elite overseas defenders command such significant auction interest. Our highest-paid PKL players guide covers exactly how a player with his reputation ended up commanding record auction prices in later seasons.
Siddharth Desai and Vinay: Haryana’s Attacking Options
Haryana Steelers leaned on Vinay as their primary raiding option throughout Season 10, with Siddharth Desai available as an impact substitute capable of changing a match’s momentum in a matter of seconds, exactly as he did in the final’s closing stages.
How This Rivalry Reflects PKL’s Growing Competitive Balance
What makes the Puneri Paltan and Haryana Steelers rivalry so interesting is how it captures a broader trend across the league. Both franchises reached the top of PKL through very different paths, Puneri Paltan through years of steady, balanced squad building since 2014, and Haryana Steelers through a much faster rise after joining in Season 5.
Their contrasting playing styles add another dimension to this matchup. Puneri Paltan has always employed a measured approach combining solid raiding with reliable defense, while Haryana Steelers built their program with a defense-first mentality that has consistently made them difficult to score against, regardless of the opponent.
Tracking how these two teams stack up on the PKL points table during any given season quickly shows how evenly matched they tend to be, which is part of why their meetings so often go down to the wire regardless of where either team sits heading into the match.
The Rematch: How Season 11 Flipped the Script
The story did not end with Puneri Paltan’s Season 10 triumph. One season later, these two teams met again in the Season 11 final, and this time Haryana Steelers came out on top, winning 32-23 to claim their own first-ever title. That result evened out some of the emotional weight of their Season 10 meeting, giving both fan bases a genuine championship memory against the other within back-to-back seasons.
This back-and-forth, one team winning it all one year only to lose the rematch the next, is part of what makes this specific period of PKL history so memorable for fans of either franchise. Few rivalries in the league have delivered two consecutive finals between the same two teams with the outcome flipping each time.
What This Rivalry Means Heading Into Season 13
Both franchises enter Season 13 with genuine championship pedigree built specifically against each other, which adds real weight to any future meeting regardless of where either team stands in the standings at the time. A third meeting in a final would make this one of the most storied rivalries of PKL’s modern era.
Roster changes ahead of the new season, shaped by retention decisions and the upcoming auction, will play a major role in whether either team can recapture the form that carried them to these two consecutive finals. Our PKL Season 13 auction guide covers exactly how squad rebuilding works heading into the new season for every franchise, including these two, and both fan bases will be watching those decisions closely given how much history is already riding on this specific matchup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has the better head-to-head record between Puneri Paltan and Haryana Steelers?
Puneri Paltan holds the advantage with 8 wins to Haryana Steelers’ 5 across 14 meetings through the end of Season 10, with 1 match ending tied.
What happened in the Puneri Paltan vs Haryana Steelers Season 10 final?
Puneri Paltan won 28-25 on March 1, 2024, at the GMC Balayogi Sports Complex in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, claiming their first-ever PKL title.
Did these two teams meet in another final after Season 10?
Yes. They met again in the Season 11 final, which Haryana Steelers won 32-23, giving them their own first PKL title and evening the emotional stakes between the two franchises.
How did Haryana Steelers reach the Season 10 final despite finishing fifth in the league stage?
They produced a strong playoff run, including a major upset over defending champions Jaipur Pink Panthers, showing how PKL’s playoff format allows a mid-table finish to still produce a run to the final.
Which coach has the more complicated history in this specific fixture?
Manpreet Singh, Haryana Steelers’ coach, lost his first three PKL finals as a coach across two different franchises before finally winning the title one season after this Season 10 loss to Puneri Paltan.
What made Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh’s Season 10 defense so significant?
His 97 tackle points that season came within four points of what was then the highest single-season tackle point tally in PKL history, and his defensive performance in the final was a key factor in limiting Haryana Steelers’ scoring chances late in the match.
How did this rivalry affect each team’s reputation going forward?
Puneri Paltan’s win cemented their status as a genuine championship contender rather than a perennial near-miss franchise, while Haryana Steelers’ run to the final, despite the loss, established them as a legitimate playoff threat regardless of their league-stage finish.
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