Bengal Warriors rode on star all-rounder Mohammad Esmail Nabibakhsh’s last-minute super raid to eke out a dramatic 42-39 victory over Puneri Paltan in their Pro-Kabaddi League, fixture on Sunday.
With Warriors trailing by five points with less than two minutes left, Iranian Nabibakhsh produced a neat raid and before his super raid inflicted an all-out, sealing the issue for his side.
The win took Warriors to the second spot in the table with 48 points, 11 points less than leaders Dabang Delhi KC who defeated Tamil Thalaivas 50-34 in the previous match of the day.
Naveen Kumar, 19, was once again the star for Delhi as he added another Super 10 to his name to make it 12 in a row.
Delhi now sit firmly atop the 12-team standings with 59 points from 14 matches.
For the Chennai franchise, this was their sixth defeat on the trot as they slipped to 11th place with 27 points from 14 matches.
This was also Warriors’ first home win of the season.
With less than 30 seconds left, the Warriors were trailing 35-39.
Needing a miracle in absence of their captain Maninder Singh who was out in the bench, Nabibakhsh who was recruited in place of Korean raider Jang Kun Lee this season, made a high five with his super raid to produce a remarkable turnaround.
Then in the dying minutes, captain Maninder Singh sealed the issue to give Warriors a second successive win against Pune this season.
