Patna defeat Bengal to climb to the second spot in the League table

After a euphoric start to the Jaipur leg of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League, the Kabaddi juggernaut moved to its second day with two mouth-watering clashes in the offing. First up was a bout between Patna Pirates and the Bengal Warriors. Seemingly distraught, the much-spoken about Bengal defence looked completely ordinary. The heroics of Ravi Dalal and Sandeep Narwal destroyed the guild of Warriors, taking the full-time score to 32-36 in their favour, claiming the second position in the League table.

Another day, another city yet the same opponents. A feeling of deja-vu filled the air as Patna and Bengal got ready to face off against each other for the second time in a row. A contest between some of the best raiders in the tournament, the match kicked off in the jazzed-up Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium amongst bright lights and even brighter faces of the crowd.

Patna launched the first assault as they captured Bengal's star raider Nitin Madane in a spectacular ankle hold and followed it up by Ravi Dalal's fierce raid which saw two Warriors ousted. Ravi continued his streak as he took down Shyam Kumar Sah, leaving Bengal a three-man outfit. As Nitin Madane exited the field yet again, Captain Nilesh Shinde was left to fight alone. Leading from the front, he revived two Bengal players. Fighting hard, Bengal refused to give in easily soon making it a four-a-side affair. However as Sandeep Narwal decide to join the party, Bengal conceded the first LONA points in 19th minute. By half-time the scores were 19-13 in favour of the Pirates.

As the second half began Bengal bounced back, as Nitin Madane earned them two crucial points, injuring his left knee. With Rakesh Kumar cheering from the sides, the Patna got back to their winning ways a Sandeep Narwal scored two points taking the lead to 9 points in the 29th minute. A ray of hope for the Warriors, Sandeep Narwal and Ravi Dalal got out, one after the other. But this hope was short-lived as Patna earned their second set of LONA points in the 32nd minute. The troubles ceased to end for Bengal as an injury to Mahendra Rajput saw him walking off the field as well. Keeping the last few minutes muted, the Pirates won the match by four points, and securing their spot as number two on the league table.