Editing Third Battle of Panipat (section)

=== Preliminary moves ===
During the next two months of the [[siege]], constant skirmishes and duels took place between units from the two sides. In one of these [[Najib ad-Dawlah|Najib]] lost 3,000 of his Rohillas and was nearly killed himself. Facing a potential stalemate, Abdali decided to seek terms, which Bhau was willing to consider. However, Najib Khan delayed any chance of an agreement with an appeal on religious grounds and sowed doubt about whether the Marathas would honour any agreement.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Keene, H. G. (1887). Part I, Chapter VI: The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan.}}</ref>

After the Marathas moved from Kunjpura to Panipat, Diler Khan Marwat, with his father Alam Khan Marwat and a force of 2500 [[Pashtuns]], attacked and took control of Kunjpura, where there was a Maratha garrison of 700–800 soldiers. At that time Atai Khan Baluch, son of the Shah Wali Khan, the Wazir of Abdali, came from Afghanistan with 10,000 cavalry and cut off the supplies to the Marathas.<ref name="tss"/> The Marathas at Panipat were surrounded by Abdali in the south, Pashtun tribes ([[Yousufzai]], [[Afridi]], [[Khattak]]) in the east, Shuja, Atai Khan and others in the north and other Pashtun tribes ([[Gandapur]], [[Marwat]], [[Durrani]]s and [[Kakar]]s) in the west.<ref name="tss"/>
Unable to continue without supplies or wait for reinforcements from Pune any longer, Bhau decided to break the siege. His plan was to pulverise the enemy formations with cannon fire and not to employ his cavalry until the Afghans were thoroughly softened up. With the Afghans broken, he would move camp in a defensive formation towards Delhi, where they were assured supplies.<ref name="tss"/>