Bengal Warriors produced an all-round performance in Pro Kabaddi on Thursday to beat former champions Patna Pirates 35-26 at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai.
Raider Maninder Singh starred with a Super 10 (10 raid points), while defender Rinku Narwal, who impressed with a High 5 (5 tackle points). Their efforts helped Warriors force two all-outs on Patna in a second-half blitzkrieg that took the game away from the Pirates.
All-rounder Monu came in for Korean raider Jang Kun Lee in the Patna Pirates line-up as coach Ram Mehar Singh tried to cull their bad run of form by bringing in more balance to the starting seven.
The three-time Champions started on the front-foot with Pardeep Narwal looking ominous in the early minutes, ably supported by Iranian Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsoudlou. But the Bengal Warriors who are the best raiding unit of the season seven clawed their way back into the game. A closely fought first half ended 15-14 in favour of the Warriors.
Bengal Warriors inflicted the first all-out of the game on Patna Pirates in the second minute after the restart. The Warriors’ strategy was quite direct – tackle Pardeep Narwal out of the game.
The raider has spent more than 17 minutes per match in the dugout this season, partly the reason why Patna find themselves at the bottom of the points table, and the second half proved no different for the side as Bengal Warriors produced a good defensive performance.
Rinku Kumar and Jeeva Kumar marshalled the Bengal defence as Maninder upped his game in the second half to inflict a second all-out on the Pirates with 11 minutes remaining till the final whistle and open up a 13-point lead (28-15).
A late surge by Patna courtesy Pardeep Narwal, who clinched a Super 10 despite his team not performing well, saw the side force an all-out on Bengal in the final minute. But the push came far too late as Bengal held on to win by a margin of 9 points.
The Bengal Warriors moved to second in the table with the result while Patna remained at the bottom.
On Friday the Chennai leg concludes with Gujarat Fortunegiants’ clash against Patna Pirates and Tamil Thalaivas’ game against U Mumba.
| RANK | TEAM | MATCHES PLAYED | WON | LOST | DRAW | SCORE DIFFERENCE | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JAIPUR PINK PANTHERS | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 45 | 36 |
| 2 | BENGAL WARRIORS | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 61 | 33 |
| 3 | DABANG DELHI K.C | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 29 |
| 4 | BENGALURU BULLS | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 27 |
| 5 | HARYANA STEELERS | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | -26 | 26 |
| 6 | TAMIL THALAIVAS | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 24 |
| 7 | U MUMBA | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| 8 | U.P.YODDHA | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | -67 | 22 |
| 9 | GUJARAT FORTUNEGIANTS | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 17 | 20 |
| 10 | PUNERI PALTAN | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | -19 | 19 |
| 11 | TELUGU TITANS | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | -36 | 18 |
| 12 | PATNA PIRATES | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | -24 | 17 |
