Super tens from Bengal Warriors’ Maninder Singh and Telugu Titans’ Pawan Sehrawat went in vain as they lost to U Mumba and Bengaluru Bulls respectively in the 2023-24 Pro Kabaddi League matches on Sunday.
Iranian Amirmohammad Zafardanesh led the charge for U Mumba with eight points in the evening.
Early on, Sombir stopped Maninder in his tracks to get his team off the mark before Guman Singh and Zafardanesh opened the account for U Mumba.
Guman was particularly impressive, sending Darpan and Vaibhav Garje off the mat with his raids.
In a do-or-die raid for the Kolkata-based team, Maninder showed his prowess to earn a bonus point and the star raider also got the opponent skipper Surinder Singh off the mat to equal the score in what was turning into a closely-fought contest.
Shrikant Jadhav marked his presence on the scoreboard after the time-out to get Rinku eliminated, but the U Mumba players never gave up on getting the crucial points.
With every point won by the Warriors, the likes of Zafardanesh and Visvanth kept their team in the game.
The U Mumba defenders led by Mahender Singh and his skipper Surinder then pulled off three consecutive super tackles to take the lead over the Warriors as the scores read 18-15 in their favour before the half-time break.
The Warriors clawed their way back into the game early in the second half, wiping out the U Mumba team with some impressive raids and defensive tactics.
U Mumba did well to get themselves back on level terms but not before Maninder became only the second raider in Pro Kabaddi League to score 1300 raid points after Pardeep Narwal.
Even as veteran Maninder continued his merry ways, the young Harsh Lad, who made his first start for the Warriors stood out. He displayed his prowess ending multiple U Mumba raids to abrupt haly.
Lad scored six points in eight tackle attempts from the left corner, keeping his team ahead of their opponents to the very end.
As the match went on, U Mumba used the super tackle to their advantage to drag themselves back into the game heading in the final five minutes of the match.
They brought on Zafardanesh at the most important moment of the clash and the all-rounder lifted the team over the Warriors immediately to take U Mumba to a 39-37 win.
Bengaluru Bulls beat Telugu Titans
Later, Bengaluru Bulls staved off a scare from Sehrawat to record a thrilling 33-31 victory over the Telugu Titans.
The Bulls held the lead for most of the match, but Sehrawat ensured that the Titans stayed in the hunt throughout the game. Defender Surjeet Singh was the star of the match for the Bulls with seven tackle points.
The two sides played out a neck-to-neck battle in the opening passage of play and were locked at 2-2 in the fifth minute.
However, the Bulls inched ahead at 4-2 through a raid point by Bharat and a tackle point by Surjeet. But the Titans skipper Sehrawat pulled off a double-point raid to level the scores at 5-5. The Bulls and the Titans continued to trade points thereafter and were locked at 7-7 at the 14th minute.
However, Vikash Kandola took out Mohit and Parvesh Bhainswal in a single raid and reduced the Titans to just two members on the mat.
Moments later, the Bulls trapped Sehrawat to inflict an all-out and take a 13-9 lead with four minutes left in the first half.
Sehrawat then effected a double-point raid in the 18th minute, but the Bulls still held the advantage at 16-12 at half-time.
The Titans tackled Kandola in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Bulls tackled Sehrawat soon after and held the lead at 19-14 in the 25th minute.
The Bulls continued to put pressure on their opponents and reduced them to just two members on the mat in the 27th minute. Moments later, Surjeet tackled Ajit Pawar and helped his side inflict an all-out and take a massive lead at 27-17.
Sehrawat continued to wage a lone battle for the Titans in the dying minutes of the match, but the Bulls eventually prevailed to hand their opponents their sixth loss of the season.
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