The Services side led by young gun Pardeep Narwal proved to be a wee-bit too strong for the Maharashtra side as they went down 31-25 in the semi-finals at the 64th Kabaddi Nationals at Jodhpur. Maharashtra as a team looked to be otherwise off-colour in the all-important clash for lack of cohesiveness and the poor form of key players like Kashiling Adake and Nilesh Shinde hurt their cause.
It was Nilesh Salunkhe who started things off for Maharashtra in the second semi-final but returned to the shore without any point. The dupki master, Pardeep Narwal in the opposition, however, was on fire from the word go when he claimed the first point for Services on a successful raid off a dupki under Vikas Kale. The tall and lanky, Kashiling Adake perished early in the 2nd minute against the Services defence to give them an initial 2 point lead.
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Nilesh, the man who reduces the pressure with his raids, executed a perfect turn and tumble on Nitin Tomar to draw the first points for Maharashtra in the 3rd minute. Sachin Shingade, the anchor of the Maharashtra defence then, brought a stop to the rampant Pardeep Narwal on a raid in the 5th minute to get the lead on the scoreline 2-3. The lead was however soon back with the Services off a successful tackle attempt and a Nitin Tomar raid, and the scoreboard rested at 4-3 at the end of 8 minutes.
With Kashi on the bench for being unable to penetrate the Services defence in a do-or-die raid, and Pardeep perishing on the rival shore off a tackle from Nilesh Shinde in the 10th minute, the Services just managed to trickle in a slight advantage of one point, 5-4.
The 12th minute saw a silly error from Nilesh Salunkhe when he managed to get a bonus point but failed to retreat before the end of 30 seconds, thus gifting a point to Services.
Nitin Tomar then delivered on cue in the 14th minute to claim two touch points on Nilesh Shinde and Girish Ernak, and the lone ranger from Maharashtra was then pinned down on an advanced tackle from Surjeet for the Services to enforce an ALL-OUT and lead by 12-5.
A host of errors from Maharashtra, in the defence and a lack of attack combined over the next four minutes saw the Services surging ahead with a colossal 11-point lead at the end of 19 minutes.
A cause for redemption was witnessed in the dying seconds of the first half when Maharashtra put in a Super Tackle to send Pardeep Narwal on the bench but still languished behind the Services by a massive margin of 10 points.
HALF TIME: Services 17-7 Maharashtra
Maharashtra started off the second half from where they had left off, a Super Tackle with a major contribution from Sachin Shingade in the 22nd minute but Nilesh Salunkhe went down in the do-or-die raid for the score to rest at 19-9. The Services players seemed to unstoppable, with Ajay Kumar finding his rhythm in the 24th minute with a staggering two point raid and extending the lead for Services. What seemed to dent the spirits of the Maharashtra team, was the fact that Kashiling, their first choice raider had failed to claim even a single successful raid, 27 minutes into the match. As a result, Services were marching ahead with 26 points to 10.
The dry spell was finally broken by Maharashtra in the 31st minute when Monu Goyat was brought down on a solo tackle effort, but in reverse Kashiling Adake yet again, bogged down by pressure, was bogged down by the defenders as well, the scoreboard 28-11 in favour of the Services.
Come the 34th minute, more than a couple of points went Maharashtra’s way with a successful tackle from Sunil, Mangesh Bhagat bagging a touch point, and Ajay Kumar being tackled by the defence and the scoreboard pegged at 29-14. Mangesh Bhagat provided a moment of brilliance in the 36th minute with a superb Super Raid and then the lone Raider was brought down by Maharashtra to reduce the lead to 29-21.
With two minutes left for the close of play, the Services seemed to play with the strategy of slowing down the pace of the game, and hold on to their lead, while avoiding any freebies to Maharashtra. In the 39th and final minute, while Ajay Kumar was caught off guard by defence, Kashi was sent off yet again, and a successful two-point raid from Maharashtra marked the end of the 40 minutes. The final score line rested at 31-25, with the Services team emerging as the winners.
FULL TIME: Services 31-25 Maharashtra
