Haryana Steelers won a raid riot against the Bengal Warriors 36-33 in a tightly-contested match at Thyagaraj Stadium here on Monday.
Vikas Kandola was again the star for the Steelers. After two empty raids, he earned the first two points in a do-or-die situation.
Two minutes into the game, teammate Vinay successfully carried out a Super Raid, taking out three defenders Viraj Landge, Jeeva Kumar and Rinku Narwal.
Warriors’ K. Prapanjan then removed Kandola, Sunil, Ravi Kumar and Vinay in a Super Raid to help his side lead 8-7.
After Warriors had inflicted an All-Out in the 11th minute, the first half score settled at 17-18 after Kandola’s raid had ousted Baldev Singh and Landge.
In the second half, Steelers inflicted an All-Out in the 22nd minute as Kandola took down Nabibabakhsh.
With this Super raid, Kandola registered 300 raid points in the PKL and also reached the milestone of ten Super 10s.
Crucial contributions were made by the raiders of both teams with Warriors’ Maninder Singh earning 15 points and Kandola getting 11. In the process, Maninder also registered 600 raid points in the the league.
In the last 70 seconds, the match decisively turned in Haryana’s favour. Dharmaraj Cheralathan, the 44-year-old stalwart, steadied the defence to secure an important win for the Steelers.
The results: Haryana Steelers bt Bengal Warriors 36-33; UP Yoddha bt Puneri Paltan 35-30 .
