MUMBAI: An impressive show by Bengal Warriors helped them outplay Bengaluru Bulls 32-26 to register their first win of the Mumbai leg in the season five of Pro Kabaddi League here this evening.
It was a fourth win for Bengal in eight games while the Bengaluru side registered their sixth loss in 10 matches in Zone B of the tournament. Skipper Surjeet Singh (8 points) and South Korean Jang Kun Lee (6 points) starred in Begal's win. On Friday, Bengal had tied with Patna Pirates 36-36.
Lee picked up a successful raid to give Bengal the opening points while Harish Naik also did similar raid to make it 1-1 for Bengaluru. It was a do or die raid in the fifth minute and Gurvinder Singh fetched three points for his team to turn it into a super raid to make the scores 4-2 in favour of the southern team. A two-point successful raid by Deepak Narwal helped Bengal bridge the gap and make it 4-4.
A successful raid by Ashish Kumar and an unsuccessful attempt by Narwal meant that Bengaluru marginally surged ahead 7-5. But from here on, it was a Bengal show. They soon picked up four points via two super tackles to make it 9-8.
After 19 minutes Bengal were leading 11-8, but Bengaluru pulled a point back at the half way stage after their defence ensured that Bhupinder Singh’s raid went in vain.
After the break, a super raid by Virender for Bengal gave his team 4 points to take them ahead, and Lee inflicted another successful raid to all out the opposition and extend the lead 20-11.
The southern outfit did try and make a comeback, but Bengal were clearly the better side nd registered a comfortable victory by 8 points.
A red card to Ravindra Pahal of Bengaluru shifted the momentum in Bengal's favour.
In the second game, it was a third successive defeat for U Mumba as they lost to Dabang Delhi K C 32-33 in a closely contested match.
At the half way mark, both the teams were tied at 17-17 after Mumba took initial lead 8-4 after first seven minutes. But Delhi, banking on successful raids by their skipper Meraj Sheykh (11 points in the match), made it 14-12 after 16 minutes.
Mumbai skipper Anup Kumar picked up a successful raid to level the scores at the half-way mark.
For Mumbai side, Darshan Kadian picked up two crucial points in his raid to make it 19-17, but Delhi soon made it 19-19 with 15 more minutes left in the game. A successful raid and tackle by Delhi meant they were leading 22-20. The Delhi side also inflicted an all out raid to extend their lead to 27-22.
Bajirao Hodage (4 tackle points) also played a crucial role in Delhi's third win in eight games. The Mumbai side almost pulled back a heist but fell short by a point to register its sixth loss in nine games.