Star Sports Pro Kabaddi: Bengal Warriors end disappointing home leg with a 21-32 loss to Dabang Delhi
In the final match of the Kolkata leg of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi, the home side Bengal Warriors lost against Dabang Delhi by a convincing 21-32 score. Ravinder Singh Pahal was Dabang’s bright spot as Warriors suffered 3 injuries to key players – Dinesh Kumar, Nilesh Shinde and Bajirao Hodage.
Kashiling Adake carried on his brilliant form from the last match, where he won 12 points, into the match against the Warriors by getting the first point of the game in the 1st minute itself. Both the teams exchanged points for the first 10 minutes. Bengal Warriors suffered a setback as Bajirao Hodage got injured.
Rohit Kumar Chaudhary used his strength to get 3 points for the away side in the 14th minute when despite being trapped under 3 Warriors players, he managed to get his hand across the line. The home crowd were stunned by the raid, more so because star defender Nilesh Shinde got hurt and a stretcher had to be called to carry him off the pitch.
In the 17th minute, Dabang Delhi completed the rout by getting the Warriors all out as they established a 6-point lead. However, Dinesh Kumar helped his side narrow it down to 3 points before Rohit, in the final raid of the half, made sure the away team led by 5 points (15-10).
Honnappa C Gowda’s side carried on their form in the second half. Ravinder Singh Pahal led from the front as he did not give the Warriors raiders any chance to score a point. The Warriors received more bad news as captain Dinesh Kumar hobbled off the pitch with a knee injury.
It was testament to both teams defence that the first successful raid came in the 35th minute when Korean Jang Kun Lee came back successfully. After a couple of unsuccessful raids for both teams, Kashiling Adake showed his quality by returning to his half after tagging 2 Warriors players to get the home team on the verge of an all out.
Kun Lee failed to revive any of his teammates back as they suffered an all out to trail Delhi by 10 points with 2 minutes to go. Before the final whistle, the home side were unable to reduce the deficit to 7 points, which would have meant they get 1 point despite losing.
The Kolkata leg ended on a sour note for the home side as they were inflicted 3 losses out of the 4 matches. The Pro Kabaddi caravan now moves to Jaipur.
Man of the match: Ravinder Singh Pahal