Pro Kabaddi 2017: Bulls get back to winning ways

Nagpur: Bengaluru Bulls seemed to be getting their groove back in this year's Pro Kabaddi Season 5 game at Nagpur’s Mankapur Indoor Stadium as they beat Bengal Warriors 31-25, yesterday. After back-to-back defeats and a tie, they were desperate to win and they did just that, upstaging the hitherto undefeated Warriors. Rohit Kumar won the toss and chose his team’s side of the mat. The in-form Maninder Singh opened for the Warriors with an empty raid. Rohit opened for the Bulls and his quick presence saw two defenders being asked to step out for crossing the line. This opened the scoreline and gave the Bulls two crisp points. The first do-or-die raid happened in the third minute with the Warriors’ Vinod Kumar being unsuccessful. After this, a series of do-or-die raids ensued and by the 14th minute, the Bulls were facing an All-Out situation. But Rohit showed his brilliance again to collect three quick points through a touch and super tackle. Another All-Out situation was averted by another super tackle, and the half ended 12-10 in favour of Bengaluru. The second half started with Bengaluru’s Ajay Kumar and Bengal’s Jang Kun Lee’s raid attempts that ended empty. Another All-Out situation was warded off by the Bulls through Harish Naik’s two quick points but they eventually faced the inevitable in the 24th minute when Naik was tackled off the mat. However in the face of adversity, Ajay had other plans as he pulled off a superb super raid in the 27th minute and added 4 points to his team’s tally to change the course of the game. Just two minutes later, the Warriors were handed their first All-Out of the match and the scoreline read 24-18. After this 6-point lead, the Bulls went into complete defensive mode, showing intent only during do-or-die raids and ensuring they don’t let the match slip through their fingers. The Warriors missed Maninder’s heroics tonight as he spent more than 15 minutes out of court. The Bulls are now well and truly back into the reckoning. But they don’t have much time to celebrate and recuperate as they face Tamil Thalaivas in less than 24 hours.