The Jaipur Pink Panthers suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Bengal Warriors in match 36 of Pro Kabaddi season 4. The men in blue beat the visitors 32-25 to register just their second win of the season.
The first match of the Kolkata leg saw top placed Jaipur Pink Panthers take on bottom placed and hosts, Bengal Warriors. With the crowd on their side, it was the perfect opportunity for the home team to wake up from their deep slumber.
Bengal captain, Nilesh Shinde, executed the perfect ankle hold on his counterpart, Jasvir Singh in his very first raid. Unlike their previous matches, the Warriors surprisingly adopted an attacking approach and took an early 3-1 lead. The opening minutes were frantic and neither team was willing to slow down play.
Jang-Kun Lee scored from three back to back raids early on to keep the Bengal scorecard ticking. They continued to adopt an ultra-attacking approach. It caught the Panthers off guard. Surjeet then scored from a hand touch to reduce the visitors to three men inside the first ten minutes. He followed it up, taking out two more defenders to give his side a 9-5 lead.
In a moment of stunning brilliance, Jang-Kun Lee then executed a five-point raid to inflict the first all out of the match. He took out three Jaipur players and picked up an additional two points from the resulting all out. Fifteen minutes into the match, Bengal were leading 15-10. Abhishek Bachchan looked in disbelief from the VIP stands.
Jasvir Singh looked adamant in his pursuit to reduce the deficit but the Bengal defence tackled him with ease on consecutive occasions.
HT- Bengal Warriors 18 - Jaipur Pink Panthers 13
Bengal’s raiders continued the onslaught in the second half. Nitin Mandane picked up two points in the very first raid. But, Ajay Kumar took out two Bengal defenders immediately. This wasn’t Jasvir Singh’s night. He kept getting tackled and found no way past the Warriors defence.
Bengal led 23-15 after 25 minutes. The Panthers defence were gifting points to the opposition. But, at the other end, Vishal Mane continued to make school boy mistakes with his petulant advance tackles. He was guilty of gifting at least four needless points.
The men in blue were enjoying a handsome lead but didn’t show any signs of slowing down. Raids and tackles were raining from both ends. Jaipur sensed Bengal’s excitement and picked up some easy raid points in the process courtesy some poor advanced tackles.
With five minutes to go, the home side were leading 28-21. They wisely and finally decided to slow down the pace of the game. The Warriors held on to record a famous victory over the table toppers. Only their second win in nine attempts. They still have a mathematical chance to make the final four.
FT- Bengal Warriors 32 - Jaipur Pink Panthers 25
