Pro Kabaddi League 2017: Gujarat Fortunegiants thump Puneri Paltan, Bengal Warriors extend UP Yoddha's woes

Lucknow: Gujarat Fortunegiants stretched their unbeaten run to seven matches after beating Puneri Paltan 35-21 in a Zone A contest of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 5 at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday. Gujarat Fortunegiants remained on top of Zone A with 41 points after 10 matches while Puneri Paltan, after suffering their second defeat of the season, stayed second with 21 points from six games. Iran’s Fazel Atrachali scored nine tackle points to create a record of scoring most points this season. [caption id=“attachment_3963379” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Gujarat Fortunegiants are unbeaten in seven matches in Pro Kabaddi League. PKL[/caption] Raider Sachin opened Gujarat’s account in the first minute to make it 1-0 before making it 2-0 with a bonus point, thanks to Fazal successfully tackling Pune skipper Deepak Hooda. Pune’s defenders scored their first point of the match in the second minute as the initial few minutes witnessed a close contest with the scores levelled at 5-5 after eight minutes. Thereafter, it was Gujarat all the way, scoring 11 points in a row including an all out to lead 16-5 after 12 minutes. Fazel marshalled Gujarat’s defence as they didn’t give a sniff to Pune, who finally managed to break the deadlock by earning two crucial points towards the end of the first half. Pune seemed to have no reply to Gujarat’s aggression as the Sukesh Hedge-led side went on the rampage even after the breather. In the initial few minutes of the second half, Deepak Hooda’s boys tried to make a comeback by reducing the gap to 16-9. Deepak scored a raid point in the 26th minute as Pune trailed 11-18 before Sachin’s raid point in the 31st minute helped Gujarat stretch it further to 22-11. Gujarat were looking in total command as Pune found the going tough even in the second half. In the 32nd minute, both teams exchanged a raid point as the scoreboard read 23-13 in favour of Gujarat. Pune managed to score five points in the next few minutes and reduce the deficit to six points. With less than five minutes remaining, Fazel achieved a high five as Gujarat led 25-18 but Pune forced a super tackle in the 38th minute to reduce it to 20-27. But Gujarat sealed the match in their favour by inflicting another all out in the final minute to extend their lead to 33-21. Bengal Warriors pip UP Yoddha in close contest Hosts UP Yoddha succumbed to their fourth straight loss in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 5 after narrowly going down 31-32 to Bengal Warriors in Lucknow on Tuesday. Star raider Deepak Narwal emerged the star of the show, scoring 10 points for the visiting side while UP Yoddha skipper Nitin Tomar’s eight points were not enough for the hosts to register their first win in front of their home crowd. Both the teams started on an even note with the scoreline reading 3-3 after the first five minutes before equalling it again at 6-6 after the 10th minute. Nitin opened the host’s account with a raid in the second minute before Maninder scored with a two-point raid in the third minute as Bengal led 3-1. Rajesh Narwal levelled the game at 3-3 in the fifth minute for UP before Bengal responded by sending Nitin to the bench in the ninth minute to trail 4-5. It was 6-6 after 10 minutes as balance swung in favour of both the teams. Bengal broke the deadlock to reach 9-7 after 13 minutes as Deepak scored a couple of points. Nitin had a quiet first 15 minutes for UP, scoring only two raid points. Bengal’s South Korean import Jang Kun Lee scored with a raid to give the team a 12-7 lead after 15 minutes. In the 17th minute, Narwal scored three points to help UP avoid an all out and thereafter levelled the scores at 13-13 by forcing a super tackle in the same minute. Bengal inflicted an all out in the final seconds of the first half to lead 19-14 at the break. The home side began the second half strongly, scoring two points in three minutes to trail 16-19. Bengal scored only their second point in five minutes to lead 21-18 after 25 minutes. Nitin scored with a raid point in the 29th minute to help UP reduce the deficit to just a single point. Deepak brought Bengal back with a two point raid in the same minute to give his side a 24-21 lead. Thereafter the home side scored two quick points to once again reduce the gap to just a single point in the 31st minute and went on to tie at 25-25 in the 33rd minute as Jeeva Kumar made a tackle point. With five minutes remaining, the game could go either way with the scores levelled at 25-25 but Bengal surged ahead with a tackle point in the 36th minute to lead 26-25. Deepak achieved a super 10 with a two-point raid as Bengal’s lead swelled to 28-26 after 37 minutes but UP skipper Tomar’s successful raid helped the Yoddhas come back to square it at 29-29. In the final two minutes, it could have been anybody’s game but the Bengal boys smartly edged past with some fantastic defence to get to their third win from six outings.