Rinku Narwal produced an impeccable super tackle in the dying moments as Bengal Warriors defeated U Mumba 29-26 in a low-scoring thriller of the Pro-Kabaddi League here on Wednesday.
In the raiding department Sukesh Hegde was the star of the show with eight points as he was ably supported by captain Maninder Singh (seven) and Iranian recruit Mohammad Nabibakhsh (five) to help Bengal clinch their second win of the home leg.
Bengal are now unbeaten after the penultimate game of their home leg and have reduced the deficit to six points against leaders Dabang Delhi KC (59) who have a match in hand.
Haryana Steelers (49) on the other hand are on third spot after playing out a draw with Jaipur Pink Panthers earlier on Wednesday.
It was captain Maninder who starred in first-half half with five raid points as the Mumbai defence looked unorganised with just one tackle point as the home team led 16-13 in front of a boisterous crowd support.
But U Mumba made a spirited comeback in the second-half largely due to some sparkling efforts by 19-year-old Arjun Deshwal who scored 14 raid points from 18 attempts.
Defence also improved with Iranian Fazel Atrachali’s four tackle points but it was Sandeep Narwal who gave them a ray of hope by evicting Bengal captain Maninder with 33 seconds left as the score read 27-26 in favour of the home team.
Bolstered by coach, BC Ramesh’s peptalk Bengal Warriors showed composure with Rinku sealing the issue with his brilliant tackle to oust Arjun Deshwal.
In their last match too Bengal Warriors had won a last-gasp thriller against Puneri Paltan on Sunday.
Earlier, Deepak Niwas Hooda led by example as Jaipur Pink Panthers held the in-form Haryana Steelers to a 32-all draw.
Eyeing a sixth successive win, Haryana Steelers got off to a solid start and led by four points at half time, but Hooda came up with 14 raid points from 22 attempts to help the Jaipur outfit salvage a draw.
In fact, Jaipur will rue their missed chances as they held a one-point lead with less than a minute left on the clock.
But a final minute blunder by Jaipur’s Sachin Narwal handed Steelers a point as they squandered a great opportunity move to the fifth spot.
