Hyderabad : Bengal Warriorz and U Mumba played out a thriller game at the GMCB Indoor Stadium in Gachibowli, Hyderabad on Saturday. While Bengal Warriorz had the advantage for most of the game, U Mumba fought back and at the final whistle, both sides were locked on 31-31 and had to settle for the first tie of PKL Season 11.
Bengal Warriorz made a quick start with Maninder Singh causing the most problems for U Mumba, who were trailing in the early exchanges. However, Manjeet helped U Mumba bring the contest to level terms, even though Bengal Warriorz looked solid in defence.
It was a tight contest right from the beginning and both sides had trouble holding onto a lead. For Bengal Warriorz, Fazel Atrachali, Maninder Singh and Sushil Kambrekar were doing most of the heavy lifting early on and at the 10-minute mark they led by 1-point. And as the first half progressed, the Mighty Maninder continued to rake in the points, which helped Bengal Warriorz stay ahead of their opponents.
With just under 5 minutes to go in the half, young Sushil Kambrekar inflicted an All-Out on U Mumba, which helped Bengal Warriorz further extend the lead. At the half-time interval, Bengal Warriorz led 20-13.
After the break, Bengal Warriorz kept U Mumba at bay. Led by Fazel Atrachali, Bengal Warriorz defence wore a compact look and weren’t letting anything pass by. Meanwhile, the combination of Maninder and Sushil Kambrekar were doing well in attack.
But just as the half-hour mark came by in the contest, U Mumba started to mount quite a comeback. With 10 minutes in the game, Bengal Warriorz led by 2 points and it was getting closer than Fazel and co would have wanted.
In the final phase of play, Fazel led the defence brilliantly but could not prevent Manjeet from inflicting an All-Out on Bengal Warriorz, which kick-started the U Mumba comeback. Going into the final minute, U Mumba had a 1-point lead but Bengal Warriorz fought back to bring it back to level terms.
Eventually, the very well contested match finished as a tie. For U Mumba, Manjeet and Sombir were the stars, while Maninder Singh and Mayur Kadam were the pick of the players for Bengal Warriorz.
Brief Scorecard
U Mumba : 31
Best Raider – Manjeet (7 raid points)
Best Defender – Sombir (5 tackle points)
Bengal Warriorz : 31
Best Raider – Maninder Singh (8 raid points)
Best Defender – Mayur Kadam (6 tackle points).
