Pro Kabaddi: Haryana Steelers end Bengal Warriors’ unbeaten home run; win 36-29
HARYANA STEELERS ended Bengal Warriors’ unbeaten run at home with a 36-29 victory at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday. Wazir Singh top-scored for Haryana with 11 points and was well supported by Surjeet Singh, who notched up eight points.
Bengal didn’t take long to get on the scoreboard thanks to Maninder Singh, who got a touch point from the first raid of the evening. Haryana got on the board soon after and levelled the game at 4-4 in the sixth minute before racing into an eight-point lead. Haryana’s defence did most of the damage early on with raiders Prashanth Kumar Rai and Wazir also playing their part. The Steelers effected an All-Out in the 12th minute through Wazir to take a 12-8 lead.
This was when the in-form Maninder decided to come to the fore with his sharp and incisive movement. He pulled off the first super raid of the game six minutes before half-time but Haryana’s Surjeet was equal to the task and raided in clinical fashion to ensure his side maintained their eight-point lead with a 19-11 advantage at half-time.
The Steelers began the second half on the front foot courtesy of a four-point super raid in a do-or-die situation to make it 24-12. They inflicted a second All-Out of the match on Bengal in the 25th minute to extend their lead to 28-15.
Haryana then began to slow down the pace of the game with Bengal trying to frantically eat away at their lead. The Steelers defenders though were on top of their game and ensured that the hosts wouldn’t have it all their way.
However, a two-point Vinod Kumar raid coupled with another two-point raid by Maninder that effected an All-Out on Haryana in the 36th minute gave the home side a glimmer of hope. Wazir though dashed all hope of a comeback from Bengal in the penultimate minute of the match with a sensational two-point raid to see his side over the finish-line. After two wins and a tie, Bengal suffered their first loss at home this season.
