Patna, Jan 29 – Shivam Patare (12 points) and Siddharth Desai (11 raid points) excelled as Haryana Steelers massively improved their chances of qualifying for the playoffs by sealing a clinical 41-36 win over Bengal Warriors in the Pro Kabaddi League match at the Patliputra Indoor Stadium in Patna on Monday. Bengal Warriors skipper Maninder Singh (13 raid points) was his side’s best player.
Neither side ceded the advantage in the early minutes as Bengal Warriors trailed 8-9 mid-way into the opening half. It was the Haryana Steelers who, finally, managed to open up a lead as they rode on some sharp raiding performances from Vinay and Shivam to go ahead 16-12.
It was a golden chance for them to extend their lead as the opposition was down to just 1 man, but Maninder produced a massive Super Raid to pick up three crucial points. Shrikant Jadhav followed it up with a Super Tackle with a fiery dash on Shivam and the Bengal Warriors turned the game around to lead 18-16 at the break.
Haryana Steelers began the second half with just three men but fought their way back through some sublime raiding from Siddharth. The muscular raider caused all sorts of problems to the opposition defence as he bagged 4 points off as many raids to pave the way for an All-Out. Within four minutes of the restart, Haryana Steelers had taken a 24-22 lead.
They did well to maintain their lead as Siddharth brought up his Super 10 with a classy multi-point raid and that was followed by a 2-pointer from Shivam. The Haryana Steelers were unstoppable thereon as a flurry of tackles and clever raids saw them inflict a second All-Out in the 33rd minute. The side from Haryana led by eight points at 37-29 with seven minutes to go.
Bengal Warriors made a late surge and Maninder did well to claim a Super 10 and reduce the opposition to two defenders, but it was too little too late as Haryana Steelers did the double over the Bengal Warriors.
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