Gujarat Fortune Giants and Bengal Warriors went toe to toe in an enthralling encounter, with the game resulting in a thrilling 25-25 tie at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata, on Saturday. Sonu Jaglan and Sachin Tanwar picked up 6 raid points each and Sunil Kumar, who didn’t have his best day on the mat, picked up 3 tackle points.
After an emphatic display against the Warriors in the previous outing, Sonu Jaglan was named in the Starting Seven in place of Rohit Gulia.
Maninder started off well with a bonus and touch point on Sumit, before Sachin took out Rinku Narwal in his very first raid. After failing in his first attempt, Sumit successfully tackled Maninder and the scores were tied at 4-4 when Sonu Jaglan got Mayur Shivtarkar.
A couple of empty raids followed suit from both sides, and with the scoreline reading 7-7, Nabibakhsh got Sunil Kumar before More GB was tackled in the following raid. The Bengal defence showed their command by pulling off tackles in the second quarter, but Sonu Jaglan stole the show with a stunning Super Raid in the 15th minute to level the score at 12-12.
Bengal Warriors, however, responded quickly with two raid points and a tackle point in the span of three minutes to take the lead back at 15-12. After a brilliant Super Raid, Sonu Jaglan pinned Nabibakhsh down with a diving thigh hold at the stroke of half-time, as we went into the break trailing 13-15.
Rohit Gulia was introduced by Manpreet in the second half and the move paid dividends as he got two quick raid points and constantly unsettled the Bengal defence.
The Giants seized the initiative and took the lead for the first time in the contest after Sonu Jaglan tackled Nabibakhsh. Rohit continued to stamp his authority by taking out Prapanjan, leaving three defenders on the Bengal mat.
We had the momentum to enforce an All-Out on Bengal, but Sukesh Hegde’s two point raid and a successful tackle on Sachin helped the Warriors make a comeback to level the score at 19-19.
The match was evenly poised at 22-22 when Sunil Kumar tackled Sukesh Hegde and we extended the lead to two points after Sachin got a running hand touch on Jeeva Kumar.
Maninder ran away from Sumit’s tackle but Sachin Tanwar restored the two-point lead by taking out Rinku Narwal. With just under a minute left on the clock, Maninder escaped from the challenge of our cover duo Sunil and Parvesh to level the score at 25-25.
Rohit went for the buzzer raid, but didn’t take any risks, as we shared the spoils with Bengal Warriors in our first outing in Kolkata.
Full Time: Bengal Warriors 25-25 Gujarat Fortune Giants
With this thrilling tie, the Giants are placed 8th in the table with 33 points, and they will be in action against U.P. Yoddha at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata, on Monday.
