Bengal Warriors pulled off a win in their very first outing at home in season 3 of the Pro Kabaddi League as they beat Puneri Paltan 33-28 at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.Nitin Tomar emerged hero for the hosts as he grabbed 11 points. Manjeet Chhillar's lion-hearted effort of 13 points for the Paltan thus went in vain.His three super tackles in the first half kept his side in the fray at half-time with an 11-10 advantage at half-time. He even engineered super raid of five points in the second half.At that time he put his team ahead at 24-23. However, all his hard work went to waste as Tomar came up with a two pointer and followed it up with a super raid of his own to make it 28-25 for the Warriors. That effectively took the match away from the Pune side.
For the hosts, it must be said that they played cohesively as a unit. In defence, Bajirao Hodage had four successful tackles. He nullified the threat of Deepak Hooda on three occasions, all in the beginning of the second half. They helped his side inflict the first all-out. The 22nd minute all-out propelled Bengal Warriors to 15-12. The winners drew away towards a healthy 22-18 lead only to see Manjeet put a spanner in their works.Bajirao's partner in crime Girish Ernak had three tackle points. The others to impress for the Bengal Warriors were Jang Kun Lee with three points and Mahesh Goud, the lanky raider, who exhibited good jumping skills while vaulting over Tushar Patil and Prashant Chavan in fine style.
Pune have big problems on hand now. With Deepak Niwas Hooda and Surjeet off on national duty and Ajay Thakur not finding his bearings, they will have a tough home leg coming.In the second game of the evening, Jaipur Pink Panthers beat Dabang Delhi 39-34.