Ahmedabad: Gujarat Fortunegiants maintained their unbeaten run at home with a 27-24 win over Bengaluru Bulls at The Arena in the second inter zone clash yesterday evening. The victory was their fourth successive win at home and marked a complete team effort with everyone chipping in, while Bengaluru skipper Rohit Kumar scored a game-high seven points. It was a circumspect start to the match with both sides picking up their first point of the evening through successful tackles in do-or-die raids. Bengaluru opened up a four-point lead in the 9th minute after a successful do-or-die raid by Rohit and an unsuccessful do-or-die raid by Gujarat. They inflicted the first All-Out of the match on Gujarat four minutes later to take an 11-3 lead. The Fortunegiants returned to the mat reinvigorated and managed to reduce the deficit thanks to some lapse in defending from Bengaluru. Gujarat ended the half with a successful tackle on Bengaluru’s Ashish Kumar in a do-or-die raid to now trail 14-9. The second period began with three men on the mat for the Bulls, one of whom Rohit Gulia eliminated from the opening raid of the half. A super tackle by Bengaluru on Gulia during Gujarat’s next raid, followed by a stunning two-point raid by Rohit, however, meant that the visitors reestablished control of the match with the score reading 18-10, four minutes into the second half. Substitute Mahendra Rajput though came off the bench to change the course of the encounter with crucial raids, one of which accounted for two Bengaluru defenders and set up their first All-Out of the night on the Bulls to tie things up at 21-21. With momentum on Gujarat’s side, two successful raids by Sachin made it 24-21 in favour of the hosts. Bengaluru fought back and made it 24-24 soon after but yet another successful raid by Rajput ensured that Manpreet Singh’s men got their noses back in front. Following an unsuccessful do-or-die raid by the Bulls, the hosts had a two-point lead with a little over a minute left on the clock.A Parvesh Bhainswal tackle in the last minute of the match killed off the tie at 27-24 and made it four wins on the trot for Gujarat.
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