Kolkata: A brilliant last tackle of the match by left corner Sachin Khambe, trapping Rajesh Narwal, the last player on the field for Jaipur Pink Panthers, gave hosts Bengal Warriors a thrilling 28-26 win in the ope
​​ning night in Kolkata in the Second Season, Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. Trailing for most part of the match, 27 minutes to be precise, the Warriors sent the packed Netaji Indoor Stadium into raptures with this well-deserved win. Before, Sachin affected that tackle, substitute Mahendra Rajput brought the winners close to victory with a 2 point raid.

In hind sight Bengal will rue the fact that they brought the tall Maharashtra cop late on the field. Dinesh then earned a point but the real turning point came when Nilesh Shinde, definitely the best defender on view got Jaipur’s hatchet man Jasvir with both his ankles. Bengal rode on the back of Nilesh’s fine form as the balding left corner man had the measure of Jasvir on two other occasions bringing him down in a super tackle.

Both the teams seeking their first win were cautious although Jaipur started the proceedings with a point from their consistent scorer Jasvir. Deepak Dhull, tried to push him out of play but the wily panther managed to touch the mid-line. Jasvir was paid back but in a different coin by Jan Kun Lee, the South Korean who was utilised by the Warriors in for the do or die raid. He came with a brilliant toe touch to dismiss Jasvir. The game meandered for some time to 4-3 in favour of Bengal Warriors with Dinesh affecting a brilliant toe touch on Ran Singh.

Meanwhile, the strategy of Bengal Warriors to utilise Jan for the do-or-die raid failed as he was once blocked by Rohit Rana and on other occasions he lost his ‘cant’.https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif

The teams were almost neck to neck till about the 14th minute and Jaipur Pink Panthers scored an all out to lead 14-9. They went at the break 15-12 as Kolkata made a small recovery.

Kolkata captain Dinesh Kumar opted for Mahesh Goud to replace Sunil Jaipal the second raider who had proved ineffective till then. Goud came up with a couple of good raids to dismiss Kuldeep and Rajesh Narwal. And with Bajirao scoring two tackle points of the score board kept on ticking for the Warriors. Jan Kun Lee stunned Navneet Gautam with a brilliant running left hand touch. But the Jaipur outfit kept on surging ahead with Jasvir accumulating raiding points as usual. But the smiling assasin’s failure to score towards the end gave the Kolkatans a chance to come back and what a stunning one it was!