Valiant Yoddha hold Warriors to a thrilling draw

Bengal Warriors stayed undefeated at home as they drew 26-26 with U.P. Yoddha in their second home game of the season at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday. Maninder Singh scored 8 raid points for the Warriors and Surjeet reached another High 5 but they were unable to get the better of U.P. Yoddha on a night where both sides were in total control.

Both teams were even in the opening minutes till a Nitin Tomar super raid gave the Yoddha an advantage at 6-3. Tomar raced to 6 raid points in just 5 raids and was ably supported by the defenders as U.P. extended their lead to 11-7 in the 15^th minute. However, once he was sent to the bench by Jang Kun Lee, the Warriors took charge of the match. They levelled the scores at 11-11 in the 19^th minute led by Lee and his quick raids. The Yoddha defence was not willing to give up easily though and a late super tackle gave them the edge as they went into half time with a 14-11 advantage over the home team.

The second half saw both teams playing on their defensive strength and not allowing easy points to the opposition raiders. Bengal Warriors capitalised on a few defensive lapses by U.P. and drew abreast of them again in the 16^th minute at 19-19. The Yoddha failed to take advantage of a number of super tackle opportunities and conceded an All-Out in the 18^th minute. Tomar, however, kept pegging away at the Bengal defence till the very end and managed to salvage a draw for his side as the score read 26-26 at the final whistle.

Bengal Warriors will stay at the top of the table in Zone B after this draw as they now look to maintain their six-game unbeaten streak against Tamil Thalaivas on Sunday, while U.P. Yoddha will be next in action on Friday against Gujarat Fortunegiants.

Check out our snapshots from this match here.