Pro Kabaddi 2019: Bengaluru Bulls edge out Patna Pirates 34-32
Defending champions Bengaluru Bulls showed a lot of mental strength as they staged a comeback to beat Patna Pirates 34-32 in their opening encounter of Vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 7. The defensive duo of Amit Sheoran (5 points) and Ashish Sangwan (4 points) were the chief architects of Bulls’ victory. Bulls’ high flier raider Pawan Sehrawat chipped in with 9 crucial raid points. For Patna Pirates, their record breaker raider Pardeep Narwal got a super 10 while Mohammed Maghsoudlou with 9 points put in a strong all-round performance but they just fell short. Bengaluru Bulls put on a solid display of strength and toughness as they forced multiple super tackles to begin their campaign in style.
In the first few minutes of the match it was all Bengaluru Bulls as captain Rohit Kumar scored raid points to give his team 5-1 lead. Mohammed Maghsoudlou put in a tremendous super tackle to revive Patna. Patna’s famed “record breaker” raider Pardeep Narwal got going as he scored his first raid point in the 9th minute. On the other hand, Bengaluru Bulls’ high flier Pawan Sehrawat had a quiet beginning to the match as Patna’s defence did a fine job on him.
Patna Pirates led 9-7 after 12 minutes when Bengaluru Bulls put in a super tackle through Ashish Sangwan to show their brute strength. In the 16th minute Patna Pirates inflicted the first all out of the match to lead 14-11. At the end of the first half, Patna Pirates held a slender four-point advantage to lead 17-13.
Bengaluru Bulls’ defence showed their mental and physical toughness in the second half as they piled on super tackles to make a comeback in the match. Ashish Sangwan and Amit Sheoran marshaled the defence brilliantly and in the 32nd minute trailed 23-24.
In the 34th minute, Bengaluru Bulls inflicted an all out to lead 30-26 and Patna were staring at a defeat in their first encounter of season 7 of VIVO Pro Kabaddi League. Bengaluru Bulls showed tremendous teamwork in the 37th minute to send the record breaker Pardeep Narwal to the bench to lead 32-27. Mohammed Maghsoudlou scored two quick raid points in a minute as Patna Pirates trailed 30-33 in the 39th minute. Pardeep Narwal attained a super 10 but it wasn’t enough as Patna crashed to a defeat in their first match of the season.