Bengaluru Bulls shook off its tentativeness to defeat Puneri Paltan 31-26 in their ProKabaddi League match at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.
Led by captain Wazir Singh, the Pune side made a few good raids to keep its nose in front. Manoj Kumar, who did well in defence, came up with a ‘super tackle’ to help Paltan get the Bulls all out, the lona lifting the team to 10-4 in the ninth minute.
Paltan, who enjoyed a slight edge in the first part of the match, led 13-12 at half-time.
The change of ends saw Bulls intensify their efforts through captain Manjeet Chhillar, whose pace and physical thrust put the Paltan defence on the backfoot.
Rajesh Mondal and Rakesh Narwal added teeth to the Bulls attack as the team earned a ‘lona’ in the 27th minute to open up a four-point gap (22-18).
Bulls kept widening the lead and it was 27-19 after Narwal made a super raid and got three Paltan defenders out in the 32nd minute.
Bulls, with their third win in four outings, have 15 points from four matches and remained third. Paltan suffered their fourth consecutive loss and were at the bottom of the table with three points.
Dabang Delhi registered its second consecutive win, beating Bengal Warriors 32-21. Kashiling Adake (6 points) and Rohit Choudhary (6) led the Dabang attack while skipper Ravinder Singh Pahal was solid in defence.
Warriors also saw two of their key players suffer injuries — captain Dinesh Kumar and defender Nilesh Shinde. The latter suffered a neck injury while trying to tackle Choudhary, and had to be stretchered off and admitted to a local hospital.
