Chennai: Bengal Warriors produced an all-round performance in the only match of Pro Kabaddi League on Thursday to beat former champions Patna Pirates 35-26 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai.
Raider Maninder Singh, with a Super 10 (10 raid points), and defender Rinku Narwal, who impressed with a High 5 (five tackle points), were the stars for the Bengal Warriors side who forced two All-Outs on Pune in a second-half blitzkreig that took the game away from the Pirates.
The three-time Champions started on the front-foot with ‘record-breaker’ Pardeep Narwal looking ominous in the early minutes for the opposition, ably supported by Iranian Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsoudlou. But for the Bengal Warriors, the likes of K Prapanjan and Maninder Singh helped claw 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 to 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 with the scores at 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 it came 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.