Gujarat hold Bengal in PKL contest

Zone A team Gujarat Fortunegiants ended their match tied 26-26 against Zone B side Bengal Warriors in an inter zone PKL contest at the Transstadia Arena here on Thursday to stay unbeaten in the home leg.

Both the teams shared three points each with Gujarat further firming their top spot while Bengal rising to the fourth position in their respective group standings.

Raider Sachin (7 points) along with defender Abozar Mighani (2 points) for Gujarat imposed most of the damage on the opposition, helping their side end the match with equal points on the scoreboard.

For Bengal, Deepak Narwal (7 points) gave a good fight to the opposition but failed to clinch the decisive point to help his side seal the match.

Raider Maninder Singh opened the scoring for Bengal with a successful raid. The away side took an initial 3-1 lead with the help of few successful raids which followed but could not hold on it for long, giving away easy raid points to the opponents.

Later for Bengal, South Korean heavyweight Jang Kun Lee along with Narwal pulled off some consistent successful raid and tackle points respectively to help the side take a four points lead at half-time.

Gujarat skipper Sukesh Hedge got the first point on board through a bonus point. The home side took one point advantage in the seventh minute of the first half pulling off a successful tackle on the do or die raid of the oppositions but failed to maintain the same.

Later in-form raider Sachin and Rohit Gulia continued picking crucial points through their pace and movement in the opposition half to keep the scoreboard ticking for their side.

Bengal registered a 14-10 lead at half-time.

The second-half began with empty raids from both the sides. Later Bengal broke the deadlock from a successful tackle and raids from Lee, Maninder and Narwal to maintain the lead.

With less than 10 minutes to play, the away side led with a slender 19-17 margin but failed to maintain the same giving away easy raid points to the opponents.

For Gujarat, Hedge combined with defender Abozar Migani to pick up points through successful raid and tackles respectively to narrow the points gap.

Later, Sachin too got back into the action pulling few successful raid points after returning empty handed in the initial minutes.

With less than three minutes to play, Mahendra Rajput played an important hand to help the side take 26-23 lead in the match but failed to clinch the decisive points.

--IANS

sam/vd