Bengal Warriors ended their six-game winless streak as they produced a splendid defensive performance to defeat Telugu Titans 46-26 in the Pro Kabaddi League match at the DOME by NSCI in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Warriors’ defender Vaibhav Garje was the star player of the game as he scored a stunning nine tackle points, while Titans captain Pawan Sehrawat bagged 10 points.
The Warriors were without their captain and ace raider Maninder Singh, but that offered a chance to Nitin Kumar to grab the spotlight. He troubled the Titans’ defence with his mercurial raids, while the Warriors’ defensive duo of captain Shubham and Garje were brilliant on the evening. The Warriors needed all of seven minutes to grab the first all out and take a 10-4 lead.
Titans’ skipper Sehrawat was off-colour and their raiding unit was unable to fire on all cylinders as the Warriors’ defence reigned supreme. Vaibhav trapped Sehrawat in a perfect tackle to bring up his sixth tackle point within the opening half itself and the Warriors wrapped up the second all out at the cusp of half-time. The former champions led by 17 points as the scorecard read 27-10.
The second half saw the Titans put their best foot forward and fight towards a comeback. They struck back through a quick series of points and their relentless efforts paid off in the 33rd minute when Sehrawat powered past Shubham and Aditya Shinde to inflict an all out.
That very move cut down the Warriors’ lead to nine points at 33-24. Nitin, however, denied the Titans any chance of a comeback as he escaped the clutches of Sandeep Dhull and Mohit in a clean-up act and inflicted a third all out on the Titans.
With less than two minutes to go, the scoreline read 42-24 in the Warriors’ favour. Shubham ended the game with tackles on Sehrawat and Robin Chaudhary to bring up his team’s fourth victory of the season.