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Bengal Warriors have been slow starters. But they have now won two matches on a trot to move up the ladder. The match against Puneri Paltans was a topsy-turvy battle with Bengal Warriors winning by a hard fought 38-35 point.
Bengal raced to a 10-0 lead in the first half with Nitin and Jang making successive successful raids. The matters were made worse for Puna as Nilesh Shinde led from the front while defending executing waist holds and leg traps to the perfection. But Pune came back midway through the first half with some good show from skipper Wazir Singh, Manoj Kumar. Vikas Tomar and Jitesh Joshi showed their defensive skills as Pune pulled back 4 points in a row and finished first half on 14-20.
Pune seized the initiative in the second half with Mahipal Niwale taking out four Bengal players in an audacious raid. Thereafter Pune effected a Lona to come to within two points of Bengal’s 27. At this point both the teams took a technical timeout. Thereafter Pune took the lead for the first time in the match with just 8 minutes left on the clock. With a 30-28 lead the visitors looked good to take the game. Bengal got Farhad Kamal Gharibi their Iranian raider and he showed why he was the crisis man effecting a three point raid to give Bengal a one point lead over Pune’s 31. The last few minutes were a seesaw battle with Pune taking lead again with just three minutes left.
However a superb three men defence trap led by Nilesh Shinde and a silly mistake from Jitesh Joshi of Pune meant Bengal took their points to 36 against Pune’s 34. And a tactical defence and some cunning raid meant Bengal had the last laugh.
Jang Kun Lee, the 21 year old South Korean of the Bengal side, was undoubtedly the crowd favourite. Every time he went in for a raid the ferociously partisan crowd cheered for the lanky Korean. He responded with being the most successful raider for the home team picking up the second consecutive raider’s award.
In the first match of the day a closely contested match Patna Pirates beat Telugu Titans 38-35 with Ravi Dalal leading from the front. He was adjudged the best raider of the match. Waseem Sajjad was the best defender of the match.
Scores in brief:
- Patna Pirates ‘38’ defeat Telugu Titans ‘35’
- Bengal Warriors ‘38’ defeat Puneri Paltan ‘35’
