Pro Kabaddi League: Bengal Warriors make comeback to upset Patna Pirates 41-38
Maninder Singh with 13 points was the toast of Warriors' attack that made a late surge.
Kolkata: Bengal Warriors made a spectacular comeback in the final 90 seconds to upset two-time former champions Patna Pirates 41-38 for a rousing start to their home campaign in the Pro-Kabaddi League at the Netaji Indoor Stadium today.
Maninder Singh (13) was the toast of Warriors' attack that made a late surge after they were let down big time by their defence to trail 34-38 with three minutes to go.
But credit should be given to Ran Singh for effecting a clean all-out with less than two minutes to go to make it 38- all as he won the Moment-of-the-Match. It was only for the second time in the match that Bengal Warriors could level the score and the timing was just perfect as Singh gave them a slender 39-38 lead with 90 seconds left.
The defence finally held on to seal the issue and take Bengal Warriors to the top of Zone B with 32 points with five wins from nine matches, ahead of UP Yoddha. Patna remained on 28 points from eight matches at third place.
Bengal Warriors, however, were at the backfoot for most part of the match. The two-time former champions Patna Pirates were solid in defence while Pradeep Narwal (11) led from the front in the attack as they dominated right from the start.
Wasting little time, Patna got off to a 3-0 lead and stretched it to 6-2 within six minutes with their raiders and defence combining well. The only time Bengal Warriors came close was in between ninth and 11th minutes when Vinod Kumar levelled it 7-7 before their defence foiled Vikas Jagan's raid to snatch an 8-7 lead.
Maninder Singh's moment of brilliance fetched them two points in the 11th minute to extend their lead to 10-7 as they were 18-14 at the break. After the changeover, Vinod Kumar raided successfully to extend their lead to 20-15.