Pro Kabaddi 2019, Bengal Warriors vs Gujarat Fortune Giants: Gujarat and Bengal end the close contest on a tie
Bengal Warriors tied 25-25 with the Gujarat Fortune Giants in their very first match on the home turf at the Pro Kabaddi League Season 7 that helped them to climb to the third position in the points' table.
Maninder Singh, despite a laudable performance, fell short of his Super 10 by just a single point. Baldev Singh also impressed with his defensive skills. For the Fortune Giants, both Sachin Tanwar and Sonu Jaglan pitched in quite a few crucial points, hence tying with the opponents.
Read to find out how the highly-anticipated 78th encounter of PKL 2019 between Maninder Singh's Bengal Warriors and Manpreet Singh's Gujarat Fortune Giants unfolded itself at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata:
Bengal's Maninder Singh started for the home team and was quick to escape, hence scoring the first point of the night. Sachin Tanwar opened the account for the Fortune Giants right after as he returned with an easy point.
In this fast-paced battle, both squads pitched four points each under the first four minutes. The defense-heavy battle saw some fierce tackles from both Bengal and the Fortune Giants. As the first 13 minutes passed, Bengal Warriors edged ahead with 10-9.
The Fortune Giants demanded a review in the 14th minute, which, upon inspection, was declared unsuccessful. Sonu Jaglan's Super Raid brought the score to a deadlock at twelve each. Maninder constantly targeted Gujarat Fortune Giants' skipper Sunil Kumar and sent him off the mat on various occasions.
At half-time, the score 15-13 was tilted in Bengal's direction. The other half kicked off with Maninder sending Kumar to the bench in the blink of an eye. A brilliant two-pointer by Sukesh Hegde introduced the first do-or-die point of the face-off.
In this cut-throat battle, the squads remained at par with each other throughout. Both dodged away all-outs with ease, which made the match result even more difficult to predict.
With just sixty seconds left on the clock, the Fortune Giants took hold of the lead with two points. Maninder, with a wonderful two-pointer, brought it yet again on a tie. Eventually, the match ended in a deadlock at 25 each.
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