Bengal Warriors banked on sublime defence as High 5s from Vaibhav and Shubham took them past Telugu Titans in a match of PKL 2023.
Mumbai: Bengal Warriors snapped their four-game winless streak as they produced a splendid defensive performance to defeat Telugu Titans 46-26 in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) 2023 match at the DOME by NSCI in Mumbai on Tuesday. Warriors’ defender Vaibhav Garje was the star player of the game as he scored a stunning 9 tackle points, while Titans captain Pawan Sehrawat bagged yet another Super 10.
Bengal Warriors were without their captain and ace raider Maninder Singh, but that offered a chance to Nitin Kumar to grab the spotlight. He troubled the Telugu Titans’ defence with his mercurial raids, while the Warriors’ defensive duo of captain Shubham and Vaibhav were brilliant on the evening. The Warriors needed all of 7 minutes to grab the first ALL OUT and take a 10-4 lead.
Titans’ skipper Pawan was off-colour and their raiding unit was unable to fire on all cylinders as the Warriors’ defence reigned supreme. Vaibhav trapped Pawan in a perfect tackle to bring up his 6th tackle point within the opening half itself and the Warriors wrapped up the second ALL OUT at the cusp of half-time. The former champions led by 17 points as the scorecard read 27-10.
The second half saw the Titans put their best foot forward and fight towards a comeback. They struck back through a quick series of points and their relentless efforts paid off in the 33rd minute when Pawan powered past Shubham and Aditya Shinde to inflict an ALL OUT. That very move cut down the Warriors’ lead to 9 points at 33-24.
Nitin, however, denied the Titans any chance of a comeback as he escaped the clutches of Sandeep Dhull and Mohit in a clean-up act and inflicted a 3rd ALL OUT on the Titans. With less than 2 minutes to go, the scoreline read 42-24 in the Warriors’ favour. Shubham ended the game with tackles on Pawan and Robin Chaudhary to bring up his High 5 and his team’s 4 victory of the season.