Bengaluru Bulls registered a 32-21 win over Tamil Thalaivas in the Pro Kabaddi League in Chennai on Saturday.
The contest was always going to be about Bengaluru’s raiding prowess and Thalaivas’ resolute defence and Pawan Sehrawat’s storming early raids meant that the former found themselves 5-0 up in the opening four minutes of the match.
Thalaivas’ poor form in the do-or-die raids continued as they lost Ajay Thakur and Shabeer Bappu. Bengaluru Bulls tackled the Thalaivas’ last man Manjeet Chillar to inflict the first all-out of the game and silenced the home crowd as the scoreline read 10-0.
Tamil Thalaivas tried to rally as they tackled Pawan Sehrawat twice and Shabbir Bapu picked two points in a single raid. But, Bengaluru Bulls went into the half-time break 17-10. Ajith Kumar managed to get out of the grasp of Sehrawat and a brilliant foothold from Ran Singh meant Bengaluru’s lead got narrowed down to just five as the teams resumed play.
A failed do-or-die raid from Rohit Kumar, a back-kick from raiding Ajay Thakur, and a body grab from Mohit Chillar further reduced the deficit to 19-17.
Their hopes of mounting a comeback, however, suffered a major letdown when Ankit touched two players in a single raid and Saurabh Nandal restored the seven-point lead.
Tamil Thalaivas succumbed to another all-out as Pawan Sehrawat completed another Super 10. The home side didn’t show any signs of resurgence after that. With this win, Bengaluru Bulls moved to the second spot in the points table with 27 points from 8 matches. They take on Puneri Paltans on Wednesday, who are at the bottom of the table.
Bengal Warriors, Dabang Delhi share spoils
In form teams, Bengal Warriors and Dabang Delhi played out an entertaining draw, with both teams finishing on 30 points in the second match of the day at Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium. K Prapanjan and Naveen Kumar clinched Super 10s for Bengal and Delhi respectively in a high-intensity encounter as both teams missed out on an opportunity to go top of the Pro Kabaddi League table.
A raid storm was expected prior to the match as both sides had been amongst the finest raiding units in Season 7.
And true to their name, Dabang started with a bang, opening their account with a super raid and inflicting the first all-out of the match in the fifth minute. Raiders Chandran Ranjit and Naveen Kumar looked their aggressive best in the initial minutes but Bengal slowly clawed their way back in the mid portions of the half.
But Dabang ended the first half, just like how they started, with the team pulling off a super tackle, courtesy a clever review, in the dying minutes to build a healthy lead. The first half ended 18-11 in favour of the Delhi side.
Delhi started the second half on a high but a 4-point game with 12 minutes remaining in the match – a super-tackle by Jeeva Kumar and then a two-point raid by Sukesh Hegde – reduced the gap between the teams to four points. The turnaround was complete when Bengal clinched their first all-out of the match with less than seven minutes remaining in the match. Delhi’s unsuccessful raid percentage increased in the second half while Bengal improved with Prapanjan pulling off a Super 10 with 4 minutes remaining.
Naveen Kumar was in no mood to give up the match though and ensured the match remained close, securing another Super 10 (his sixth of the season) in the process. A do-or-die raid in the final minute opened an opportunity for Bengal to clinch the match but their initial joy was cut short when a review proved Bengal’s raider had fallen short in his attempt. The match ended in a tie, a fair reflection of the closeness of the contest.
