In a match that lasted almost 80 minutes at the Lal Bahadur Shastri grounds here, Anil Bernard was the star of the show for BSNL with his spiking prowess. Anil was excellently complemented by setter Ganesh Rai, the duo working in tandem to expose chinks in ITI defence.
After BSNL took the first set 25-17, ITI drew level and won the third set as well to take a 2-1 lead. Sampath Kumar did the bulk of the scoring for ITI, with setter Mahanth creating scoring opportunities.
Down 1-2, BSNL’s resilience came to the fore as they clawed their way back into the match, Anil leading their charge with some stunning smashes that caught the ITI defence napping. It all boiled to the decider, where BSNL maintained their cool to emerge winners.
The victory was a welcome relief for BSNL, who had gone down to KSP in straight sets in a late night encounter on Thursday.
Results: BSNL bt ITI 25-17, 22-25, 18-25, 25-19, 15-12; SWR bt JSW 25-19, 25-18, 25-20; KSP bt MEG 25-21, 25-18, 25-15.
On Thursday: MEG bt SWR 23-25, 25-23, 25-16, 17-25, 17-15; KSP bt BSNL 25-18, 25-20, 25-18; Postal bt SAI 25-21, 25-22, 29-27.
