Mumbai: The Bengal Warriors produced a spirited fight back as they thumped Dabang Delhi 31-23 to record their first win of the fourth season of Pro Kabaddi League on Monday.
Led by Nilesh Shinde, it was the Warriors defence who produced a gritty performance to overcome the challenge from Delhi.
With the win, the Warriors leapfrog U Mumba in the league table to sit in the third spot with six points.
The first half was a closely fought affair but Meraj Sheykh came up with two brilliant plays to give the Dabang Delhi a slender lead 14-13. With the danger of an all-out looming, Meraj Sheykh scored two points with a brilliant raid and revived two players for Dabang Delhi in 14th minute. Just five minutes later, Sheykh repeated his feat of averting another all-out.
The Warriors, still reeling from their loss to Bulls, looked at their raider Jang Kun Lee for inspiration. The Warriors started brightly and after the first 10 minutes, led 6-3. Jang Kun Lee scored his first point with a fine raid in the 12th minute.
Sheykh started the second half in sublime form and averted another all out in third minute of second half. He then combined with Prashant Chavan to inflict a super tackle and earned two more points in the 15th minute. Sheykh ended up with seven points but it wasn’t enough for his team.
The Bengal Warriors made a few tactical errors and missed two glorious opportunities to inflict an all out in the first half. Nitin Madane, raider for Warriors, looked out of sorts all night and yet was sent on for one raid too many. However, another raider for Warriors, Ravi Dalal scored two points with successive raids to tie the game at 18-18. The first all out came in the 10th minute of second half to get a three-point lead.
Dabang looked to their captain Kashiling Adake for inspiration but he had a quiet night and scored only two raid points. Ravi Dalal inflicted a super raid in the 17th minute of the second half to score three more points for the Warriors to extend their lead by seven points. In the last minute, the Warriors inflicted an all-out to record a comfortable victory.
