Bengaluru seal semi-final berth with a single-point victory over Jaipur

Bengaluru: The last league-stage of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League came to a close, with the Bulls charging their way through the semi-finals, defeating the Panthers by a single point. The decider for the final spot in the semi-final stage, the Bulls needed a win on home ground and got what they seeked with the Bull Deepak Kumar bulldozed the Panthers. Captain Ajay Thakur, stood backed and watched in pride while providing the perfect supporting act to Deepak, who with nine raid points to his credit, was declared the best raider for the night, crushing Vizag's chance of making it to the top four. With the emergence of a cleverly-executed defence strategy and a laser-sharp attack, The Bulls sealed their semi-final spot with a win over the Panthers, 30-29.


The Bulls came charging in as Ajay Thakur opened the account for his team in his very first raid, ousting none other than the leader of the Panthers, Navneet Gautam. Deemed to be some of the best defenders in the league, the Jaipur team lived up to its reputation by taking down Manjit Chillar. Ajay continued his winning streak, earning his sixth raid point, sending Maninder back. After 10 minutes of what could only be described as an intent-driven competition, the scores were ties at seven-all. As Manjit Chillar, Dharmaraj Charlathan and Deepak Suresh Kumar were shown the exit route by the Panthers, Jaipur reduced Bengaluru to a three-man army. Moments later, fighting the Panthers on his own Pritam Singh was captured by a trademark Rohit Rana tackle, making the Bulls concede the first LONA points of the match. A couple of empty raids from Jaipur slowed down their ascent, but the breakthrough for the Bulls' came when Deepak Kumar summersaulted over the centre-line, taking Jaipur's Raju Lal Choudhary with him. This was only the beginning of the fantastic night that Deepak went on to have for the rest of the game. By half-time the scores were 14-17 in favour of the Panthers.


Realising the success of their strategy the Bengaluru team made sure that the next few raids of the Panthers were nothing but empty. Meanwhile Deepak continued his onslaught making a mockery of the Jaipur defence. Thanks to his efforts the Jaipur team was quickly reduced to its skipper, who was ousted by his counterpart, Manjit Chillar. This not only earned Bengaluru their first LONA points but also brought the Bulls ahead 25 - 24. The next few minutes followed the same pattern, with Deepak continuing to shine while his defence prevented the Jaipur team from doing any kind of damage. A perfect example could be found in Rajesh Narwal's foiled raid, whose dismayed face showed that he knew his raid was over before the Bengaluru Bulls even hit him. Crumbling under the pressure of the mounting number of empty raids, the Jaipur Pink Panthers looked toothless against Bull's charge which was fuelled by their desire to make the cut and reach the semis. Sealing their semi-final berth, Bengaluru Bulls inched ahead of the Panthers by one point.


With the Kabaddi juggernaut hitting Mumbai for its concluding matches, Jaipur, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Patna will fight it out for the ultimate glory.