Match number 53 saw last season’s finalist Bengaluru Bulls take on in-form Bengal Warriors in the ongoing Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League at the NSCI Stadium, Mumbai. The Warriors came out on top with a 26-22 victory over the Bulls and secured their semi-final spot with a match to left to play against Puneri Paltans tomorrow. Jang Kun Lee and Nilesh Shinde inspired the Warriors to their 1st ever semi-final qualification by scoring 6 points respectively.
The Warriors’ in-form raider Nitin Tomar drew first blood of the night following a successful raid with Bulls’ Pawan Kumar returning the favour in the very next raid. Nitin Tomar and Jang-Kun Lee continued their fine form into this match and scored the next few points in the match to help the Bengal-based franchise take a 5-3 lead with 7 minutes played in the first half.
Bulls’ Deepak Kumar Dahiya superbly broke the chain hold between Nilesh Shinde and Jang-Kun Lee to score the first super raid of the match and help the Bulls take a 6-5 lead with 10 minutes left to play in the first half. Both the defences came into play in the next few minutes, with Jang Kun Lee and Pawan Kumar both getting out in their subsequent raids.
Both the teams slowed down the pace at which the game was played as only 4 points were gathered in the next 6 minutes to level the scoreline 10-10 by the end of 18th minute in the first half. Jang-Kun Lee and Nitin Tomar again combined to score 3 raid points for the Warriors at the end of the first half with Bengal leading 13-11.
HT: Bengal Warriors 13-11 Bengaluru Bulls
The Bengaluru Bulls’ defence started the second half on a positive note as they got danger man Nitin Tomar out in the very first raid to make it a 1 point game. The Bulls scored quick 2 points and took the lead in the 25th minute by getting Mahesh Gaud out and following that, Vinoth Kumar secured a touch point for the Bangalore-based franchise.
In the match which had a large number of empty raids, both the teams were looking to score in the do-or-die raid where the scoring is mandatory for the raiding team. The next few minutes saw Jang Kun Lee, Mahesh Gaud and Vinoth Kumar help the scoreboard ticking with 3 consecutive successful raids, after which the scorecard read 17-18 with just 7 minutes left to play in the match.
Jang-Kun Lee came into his stride in the last few minutes and scored 2 quick touch points to make it a 2 point game with just 3 minutes left on the clock. Mahesh Gaud applied the finishing touches to take the match away from the Bulls in the dying minutes and secured a 26-22 victory for the Warriors.
FT: Bengal Warriors 26-22 Bengaluru Bulls
You can relive all the top tackles featuring Nilesh Shinde from the match, presented by hotstar, below:
U Mumba vs Telugu Titans
Match number 54 saw hosts U Mumba take on the Vizag-based franchise Telugu Titans in the ongoing Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League at the NSCI Stadium, Mumbai. Rishank Devadiga scored a mammoth total of 14 points to help the home side register yet another win on the home turf. On the other hand, the visitors tried hard through Rahul Chaudhari’s 12 total points but could not even come close to beating the defending champions.
Anup Kumar started the proceedings for the home side in the same fashion as he is known to start, by securing the touch point in the very first raid of the match. However, Rahul Chaudhari returned the favour by scoring 2 touch points in the very next raid. The next few minutes saw Mumba’s star raider Rishank Devadiga and Titans’ Rahul Chaudhari securing touch points at regular intervals to level the match at 7-7 by the end of 9 minutes in the first half.
The duo of Anup Kumar and Vinoth Paulyas scored in their subsequent raids to inflict the first all-out of the match on the Titans to take a 13-8 lead. Sukesh Hegde got 2 points back for the Titans following a successful raid, however, it was not enough to stop the defending champions take a 8 point lead by the end of first half.
HT: U Mumba 18-10 Telugu Titans
The Titans drew first blood in the second half by inflicting a super tackle on the Mumba’s skipper Anup Kumar to make it a 6-point game. The home side inflicted the second all -out of the match on the Titans to take a 23-14 lead by the end of 24 minutes. Rishank Devadiga and Rahul Chaudhari continued to score touch points for their respective teams in the next few minutes.
Rishank continued to score touch points for the home side and helped the home side take a 29-16 lead to take the match away from the visitors. The home side continued to get points on a regular basis in the next few minutes to take a 38-20 lead with just 2 minutes left on the clock.
The visitors never managed to get themselves back into the match as the home defence stayed uptight till the end.The home side secured yet another win at their den, a place where they have not lost a single match since losing the final against Jaipur Pink Panthers in season 1.
FT: U Mumba 38-22 Telugu Titans
You can view this stupendous raid from Rahul Chaudhari avoiding the all out in the match, presented by hotstar, below:
