13th January, Jaipur: The Bengal Warriors subjected the U.P. Yoddhas to their fifth defeat in a row, beating them 42-37 at the SMS Indoor Stadium on Saturday. Despite Pardeep Narwal’s 16 points, the U.P. Yoddhas were outdone by the all-round teamwork of the Bengal Warriors. Maninder Singh (14 points) and Nitin Kumar (10 points) were the best performers for their team on a winning night.
The contest was billed as a raider’s paradise and did not disappoint early on, with Maninder Singh in particular keen to stamp his authority on the game. The Bengal Warriors’ raider grabbed 9 points in the first half alone, and was not tackled once. And yet he wasn’t the only one making hay. At the other end, his counterpart Pardeep Narwal took 7 points in the half, to keep his side in the game.
The difference really was the fact that the Warriors had other raiders chipping in with points, and a defence that logged 4 points to the U.P. Yoddhas one. It helped the Bengal Warriors inflict the first ALL OUT of the game and they went into the break holding a comfortable lead.
The U.P. Yoddhas kicked off the second half at a furious pace and within three minutes had inflicted an ALL OUT of their own to reduce the deficit to 20-24. The Warriors were in no mood to capitulate though, and slowly picked up the pieces to rebuild their lead.
Narwal was working overtime to reduce the deficit almost on his own, with the rest of the team failing to back up his performance. His relentless raiding though helped the U.P. Yoddhas inflict a second ALL OUT, reducing the deficit to three points with under 2 minutes to play. In the end though, the Warriors held their nerve and smartly played down the clock to take a well deserved victory.
below the PKL Season 10 match on 14th January
Game 1 – Haryana Steelers vs Tamil Thalaivas – 8 pm
Game 2 – Dabang Delhi K.C. vs Patna Pirates – 9 pm
Venue: Jaipur
Season 10 of the Pro Kabaddi League will be broadcast live on the Star Sports Network and for free on Disney+ Hotstar.
