Delhi: Bengal Warriors carved their second win in Season 2 of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi by edging hosts Dabang Delhi 20-17 in the first match of the New Delhi leg. The hero of the match was the tall policeman from Maharashtra, Mahendra Rajput of Bengal Warriors as he set seal on his team’s win by getting two points towards the end with two valuable points in do-or –die raids. The proceedings were so dull that the first twenty minutes of the match saw the score crawl to 9-8 in favour of the Dabangs.
The win took Bengal to 16 points and they are now above Puneri Paltan at seventh place. Dabangs were definitely disappointed and with a single point took their tally to 18 points. They remain in fifth place.
It was the defence of both the teams dominated after the Warriors captain Jang Kun Lee opened the account by touching rival skipper Ravinder Pahal out. The visitors stayed ahead for some time at 4-2 when a super tackle on Mahendra Rajput got them on level terms. Thereafter it was Ravinder who kept the pressure on the Warriors raiders and snared them to pocket three points. Bengal too sustained their scoring through Sachin Khambe and Nilesh Shinde their left and right corners.
For both the teams it was the defenders who kept the score-board ticking. It was level pegging throughout as Vineet Sharma, Mahendra and Jang were trapped in do-or-die raids. On the other side of the midline it was the off colour Rohit Choudhary who was sacrificed twice for the do-or-die entries. With five minutes left on the clock the score stood at 16-15 in favour of the winners.
Bengal were a bit adventuresome as Vipin Thangadurai managed to tackle the tall Dadaso Awad. But then he failed to prevent substitute Selvamani from stealing two points. This kept the match in balance with Dabangs moving from 15-18 to 17-18. Mahendra managed a point and Kashiling who had just three points to show fell in the last raid and Bengal were home and dry at 20-17. Dabangs had the satisfaction of pocketing a single point for losing the match by less than seven points.
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