Sehrawat’s 29 points propel Bengaluru Bulls to victory in a high scoring thriller

A historic performance from ‘Hi-Flyer’ Pawan Kumar Sehrawat helped Bengaluru Bulls beat Bengal Warriors by a scoreline of 43-42 at the Patliputra Indoor Stadium in Patna on Saturday. The reigning champions trailed by 11 points with just under 12 minutes left in the contest, but Sehrawat’s magnificent effort enabled them to outscore Bengal Warriors 19-8 in the last quarter and secure the victory.

Bengal Warriors got off to a fine start through Maninder Singh and Mohammad Nabibakhsh and raced to a 3-point lead. But the defending champions responded in style, scoring four on the trot to take a 4-3 lead. A technical Super Tackle from Bengal Warriors swung the momentum back in their favour and they capitalised by scoring seven straight points to reduce Bengaluru Bulls down to just two men on the mat. Skipper Maninder took care of both men in the same raid to inflict the game’s first All-Out on Bengaluru Bulls and give his side a 14-4 lead in the contest.

Post the All-Out, Season 6 MVP Sehrawat took matters into his own hands and embarked on a run of seven straight successful raids, with the first five bringing a point each and the final two being two-point raids. This was followed by a Super Raid, which inflicted the All-Out on Bengal Warriors. Maninder and Nabibakhsh added three more points to their team’s tally while Sehrawat added a couple to Bengaluru Bulls’ score as the teams headed into the half-time break with Bengal Warriors leading 23-20.

Bengal Warriors started the second half by scoring four straight points but Sehrawat continued his stellar night and scored three. However, once the mercurial raider was finally tackled down by Bengal Warriors, it opened up the opportunity for them to inflict a second All-Out and they made no mistake in doing so, as Maninder scored a two-point raid and put his team up by 11.

Bengaluru Bulls outscored Bengal Warriors 10-2 over the next four minutes, courtesy of five raid points from Pawan Sehrawat and some excellent work from the defence, which reduced Bengal Warriors down to just a solitary man. But that lone player was K. Prapanjan who put in back-to-back two-point raids to keep the All-Out at bay. Bengaluru Bulls eventually inflicted the All-Out to reduce Bengal Warriors’ lead down to just two.

With momentum firmly on their side, Bengaluru Bulls added two more points to level the scores and then tightened their defence to take a 43-41 lead with just seconds left in the contest. Nabibakhsh added another point to his team’s total but it wasn’t enough for his team to avoid defeat by a solitary point.

Top Performers

Bengal Warriors - 

Top Raider – K. Prapanjan (12 Raid Points)

Top Defender – Mohammad Nabibakhsh (2 Tackle Points)

Bengaluru Bulls - 

Top Raider – Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (29 Raid Points)

Top Defender - Saurabh Nandal (6 Tackle Points)