New Delhi: In a point-fest contest, Bengal Warriorz dominated defending champions Haryana Steelers 54-44 at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Vizag on August 31, Sunday. Bengal acquired star raider Devank Dalal ahead of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 12 for a whopping price of Rs 2.205 crore, and he proved his worth in the first match itself by scoring 21 points in the match.
Devank was the top raider in the last edition, scoring over 300 raid points. The young star began the season where he left off last year by scoring a multi-point raid in his second attack itself. Devank and Haryana’s coach Manpreet Singh shared a fiery battle on the mat, and after winning the game, Devank teased Manpreet.
The departure of Mohammedreza Shadloui haunted Haryana as they were losing points in the defence at regular intervals of time during the match. Whereas their new star raider, Naveen Kumar, was hunted twice in the first half by Bengal’s defenders. Devank was consistently scoring points, which pushed the first all-out of the match on Haryana to take a lead of seven points.
For Haryana, Shivam Patare and Vinay Tewatia scored 17 and 13 points, respectively. Devank, who was the hero of the match, challenged Haryana coach Manpreet Singh with a moustache after the final whistle. Devank, who played for Patna last season, was teased by Jaideep after the final, and after today’s victory, Devank teased Jaideep and settled the score.
For Haryana’s side, Shivam made a multi-point raid and cut down the lead to five points. With another multi-point raid, he completed his Super 10, and with the help of Naveen, defending champions fetched first all-out of the season to level the score at 27-27.
Two all-outs on defending champions in second half
After defending champions pushed an all-out on Bengal, Devank started dominating the Haryana’s defenders and pushed another all-out on them to put them on the lead of seven points ahead. As the time was running out, Devank put extra pressure on the defending champions and extended the lead to 11 points.
Bengal sealed the game with the third all-out on Haryana and won their season opener match against the defending champions.