Bengal Warriors registered their second win on a trot, defeating formidable UP Yoddha 40-20 in the fifth season of Pro Kabaddi League in Nagpur on Sunday. Vinod Kumar led the way for the Warriors with eight points while Jang Kun Lee with seven and Maninder Singh with six were the other prominent scorers, reported PTI.
For the Yoddhas, Surender Singh was the highest scorer with five points while star player Rajesh Narwal got three. Bengal’s all-round supremacy won the day for them against the UP team, which had outclassed U Mumba on Saturday. Bengal Warriors were on the attack from the word go against a formidable rival, who had been unbeaten till date.
After falling behind by a big margin at the end of the first half, Yoddhas mounted a fightback in the second with Narwal doing some good work. However, the margin proved too huge for Yoddhas and the Warriors also ensured that they didn’t get complacent and held firm for a creditable victory. Maninder Singh was one of the stars for the Warriors as the team took a stranglehold of proceedings, even as the Yodhas were left wondering what hit them.
In the first half, Maninder was the star for Warriors with several raid points as they secured an impressive 22-8 lead at the break. The Warriors had 12 raid points to five for the Yoddhas and also had four tackle points to boot.
Patna Pirates outclass Bengaluru Bulls
Patna Pirates defeated Bengaluru Bulls in the second match of the day. The 24-year-old Pardeep Narwal, one of the bigger stars of the league, showed why he is rated so highly, as he single-handedly powered the Pirates to victory.
Pirates had 24 raid points in the match and had to thank Narwal for that. He was relentless and kept his team ahead, from start to finish. It was the Pirates’ third win on the trot and they look good for more too. With seven minutes to go, Monu Gayat came up with a successful raid for Bulls to reduce the margin to 26-40 as the Bengaluru team desperately tried to cut the difference.
At half time, Pirates led 23-11 and looked set to put up a dominating performance against an underachieving Bulls. Narwal showed his worth to the Patna team, with calculated raids and was at the forefront from the start. Other than Narwal, Vinod Kumar and Monu Goyat scored points and kept Pirates ahead, at every stage of the match. Bulls, on their part, appeared to be out of their depth in the first half as the Pirates kept gaining points, almost at will.