Panthers prevail over Bulls

Bengaluru continue to misfire, suffer fourth straight defeat

Jaipur Pink Panthers staved off a fine comeback from Bengaluru Bulls to score a 24-22 win in a closely fought Pro Kabaddi League encounter here at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Wednesday.

The Pink Panthers registered their fifth win of the season to go on top of the table with 30 points from eight games. The Jaipur unit dislodged Puneri Paltan, who lie second with 28 points.

Bulls suffered their fourth straight defeat but did well to keep the defeat margin less than seven points to take home one point. With five defeats, one draw and three wins, the Bengaluru side remain at the sixth spot with 21 points. 

In desperate need for a win, Bengaluru began the contest in a dominant manner.

Deepak Kumar Dahiya, who missed the previous game against Telugu Titans on Tuesday, was brought back into the Bengaluru side and the wily raider got two points in his very first raid. Rohit Kumar then complemented Deepak’s effort with a sharp raid to gain a point and Bengaluru raced to a 5-2 lead within the first five minutes of the game.

Jaipur though recovered well, thanks to an excellent work from their defence, led by Ajay Kumar. The Bulls’ attack let slip the advantage with some ordinary raids, which saw them gift points to their opponents and the Panthers drew level at 5-5.

Panthers’ defence grew in strength and the experienced raider Jasvir proved his mettle as the visitors went ahead for the first time in the game at 8-5. They held on to the lead and inflicted their first all-out at 10-7 to put the Bulls under pressure.

The hosts found it hard to recover as the Panthers led 15-9 at half-time.

The early moments of second half saw the hosts produce a spectacular fightback, thanks to the brilliant raids from Rohit and Ashish Kumar. After Rohit had brought the confidence levels back in the Bulls’ camp with two points, Ashish dodged a strong Jaipur defence and made a brilliant effort to bag two more points for the hosts.

Bengaluru managed to draw parity at 15-15 and then went on to inflict an all-out to keep the game in balance.

With less than five minutes to go at 21-21, it was anybody’s game but the Panthers held their nerves to clinch a thriller. Jasvir (5) and Rajesh Narwal (5) shone for Jaipur while Rohit (5) once again was the lone-warrior for Bulls.

In the first match of the Women's Kabaddi Challenge in Bengaluru, Ice Divas romped to a 24-14 victory over Fire Birds.   

Thursday’s fixture: Jaipur Pink Panthers vs U Mumba (8:00 pm); Bengaluru Bulls vs Patna Pirates (9:00 pm).