Pro Kabaddi League 2018: Maninder Singh powers Bengal Warriors past Bengaluru Bulls; Gujarat Fortunegiants thump Puneri Paltan

Pune: Bengal Warriors produced a memorable comeback to beat Bengaluru Bulls 44-37 in Pro Kabaddi League in Pune on Thursday. Maninder Singh was the star man for Bengal Warriors as he scored 17 raid points to lead his team to victory. Ravindra Ramesh also chipped in with eight crucial points for the winning team. Bengal Warriors trailed by 7 points after the first half but inflicted three all-outs in 12 minutes to complete a brilliant comeback. Bengal Warriors defence also had a strong game in the second half to contain the Bengaluru raiders. Bengaluru Bulls are winless against Bengal Warriors this season in the Pro Kabaddi League. [caption id=“attachment_5643671” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Maninder Singh scored 17 raid points to help Bengal Warriors beat Bengaluru Bulls. Image Courtesy> PKL[/caption] Rohit Kumar and Pawan Sehrawat began brightly to give Bengal Warriors a 4-2 lead in the fifth minute. Bengal Warriors’ reliance on Maninder Singh was getting exposed as he was the lone scorer for them in the first seven minutes of the match. Bengaluru Bulls inflicted the first all-out of the match in the 7th minute to lead 10-2. Maninder Singh scored his third raid point in the 10th minute as Bengal Warriors trailed 3-13. Ravindra Ramesh made a two-point raid to reduce the deficit to nine points for Bengal Warriors. It took Bengal Warriors 18 minutes to score their first tackle point of the match. Bengal Warriors ended the first half strongly as they reduced Bengaluru Bulls to just two men and trailed 12-19. The Warriors inflicted an all-out in the 22nd minute to trail 16-21. Bengal continued to get points as their defence got their act together and Maninder picked up the raid points. The deficit was reduced to just two points after 23 minutes and Bengal Warriors looked in ascendancy. Bengaluru Bulls were looking in disarray as they were on the verge of suffering another all out in the 25th minute. Bengal Warriors took the lead for the first time in the second half. Another all out was inflicted by Bengal Warriors in the 27th minute as they led 27-24. Maninder Singh’s brilliant super raid in the 31st minute once again reduced Bengaluru Bulls to two men. A two-point raid in the next minute by Maninder Singh led to another all out meant Bengal Warriors led 38-28. Rohit Kumar attempted to revive Bengaluru Bulls with a couple of raid points but it wasn’t enough in the end. Gujarat thump Pune to continue amazing run Gujarat Fortunegiants showed why they are the team to beat as they registered a comfortable 35-20 win over Puneri Paltan in Pune on Thursday. Sachin (7 points) and Prapanjan (5 points) combined to scored 12 raid points while Gujarat’s defence scored 14 tackle points and contained Pune’s raiders. Puneri Paltan’s raiders had a quiet match and that was the biggest reason of their downfall. Sandeep Narwal got a high five for Puneri Paltan. Gujarat Fortunegiants were top of the table in Zone A with 63 points from 15 matches while Puneri Paltan were third with 47 points from 18 matches. Puneri Paltan got off to a quick start as they scored a raid and tackle point to lead 2-0. Gujarat Fortunegiants levelled the match at 2-2 in the second minute. After five minutes of play both teams were neck and neck and it was 5-5. Gujarat’s strong defensive unit came to the fore once again as they scored a couple of tackle points to open a four-point lead. Things got worse for Puneri Paltan as they suffered an all out in the 11th minute. Gujarat Fortunegiants finished the first half strongly as they held a 9-point lead with the score reading 20-11. Puneri Paltan, fresh after a strong comeback in their last match, tried to repeat the feat but Gujarat’s defence was solid as rock. With inputs from PTI