Pro Kabaddi League: Panthers overpower Warriors in epic battle
16 August 2014, Vizag: With the first match out of the way and Vizag having gotten their first real taste of kabaddi action, it was now time for the second match of the night.
The Bengaluru Bulls had squandered their chance of leapfrogging past Jaipur Pink Panthers into second place. The costly slip-up by the Bulls put the Panthers in prime position to narrow the gap at the top. A win on the night would bring them within 2 points and well within sniffing distance of break-out leaders U Mumba. The Bengal Warriors, however, haven't looked like themselves away from home, with a porous defence and an over-reliance on Jang Kun Lee often spelling their downfall.
The match began in ernest with both teams trading blows. It was the Panthers however that provided the first real highlight of the match when stand-in skipper Prashant Chavan and a heavily bandaged Rohit Rana combined wonderfully well to stop the marauding Jang Kun Lee dead in his tracks.
The highlights just kept coming from the Pink half of the court, and next time it was the light footed Jasvir Singh who, on a single raid, tagged out 4 members of Bengal's anti and with it ended the Bengal charge in the first half. Jaipur put up their first LONA points on the night shortly afterward when they took down a lone Sunil Narwal and moved into a 24-10 lead by the end of the 14th minute.
The greatest bane in this Bengal side has been their lack of ability to pull a match back from the jaws of defeat. That is never an easy task, but in this sport particularly it is a necessity which either makes or breaks a team's fortunes.
The body language of the Bengal players changes immediately when they find themselves in a daunting situation, their heads drop and soon the match is lost. Bengal did well to claw back a few points, but by the half-way point they had quite the mountain to climb; at the end of the half the score read 26-16 in favour of Jaipur.
The second half kicked off in spectacular fashion for the Bengal Warriors. Coach Raj Narain Sharma rallied his troops, and the results were showing immediately. They had clawed themselves to within 6 points of the Panthers, but this wave of revival soon went flat, and like a low tide pulling back toward the sea the Warriors were in the deep end yet again.
Despite their hard work through the initial phase of the second half, they once again found themselves fighting to stay afloat. By the end of the match the disappointment within the ranks of the Bengal Warriors was obvious. They have really worked themselves into a rut, cementing their 7th loss of the season.
The match ended in favour of Jaipur, 41-33, who have now won 7 matches on the trot and are marching their way towards that precious play-off berth.