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Nagpur hosted the home leg for the Bengaluru Bulls with the team not playing at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore this season. The home stand meant the Bulls were in action on every night of the Nagpur leg.
We had a look at the best matches at the end of the Hyderabad leg and likewise here we look back at the best encounters from the Nagpur leg.
#1 Match 12 - Bengaluru Bulls v Tamil Thalaivas - Bulls won 32-31
In the 8th minute of this game, the Bulls led 12-3. With five minutes still to be played in the first half, they held a 21-5 advantage and closed the half with a 17-point advantage. One feared the worst for the Thalaivas - their own mistakes were costing them big as Amit Hooda's advance tackles were proving costly and Ajay Thakur went cold. The Bulls were rampant and with such a sizable advantage, the game was as good as done.
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Yet in a spectacular turn of events in the second half, the Thalaivas got their game together to mount some pressure on the Bulls and the team from Bengaluru imploded as their opponents began to whittle down the deficit.
The Thalaivas' massive comeback started with the introduction of Korean Dong Geon Lee into the game. The Thalaivas needed a lift in their raiding department and the Korean provided it. Their defence got better and they managed to restrict the likes of Rohit Kumar and Ajay Kumar. Despite all of that though, the Bulls still led 31-22 with just five minutes remaining in the match.
And then the meltdown happened - Prapanjan, Lee and Ajay Thakur launched a full-on assault on the Bulls with some timely advice from their coach K. Baskaran. The Bulls crumbled under the pressure and as the Thalaivas raiders kept the successful raids coming, the lead was cut to one point at 32-31 with under a minute left in the contest.
Bulls captain Rohit Kumar though provided a successful raid at just the right time to give his side a vital 2-point lead that saw them win the game in the end. The Thalaivas were denied at the very end, while for the Bulls it served as an important warning about the unpredictability of Pro Kabaddi.
#2 Match 19 - Bengaluru Bulls v Telugu Titans - Match tied 21-21
We had a tie in the Hyderabad leg and the Nagpur leg provided another one.
Led by two star raiders in Rohit Kumar and Rahul Chaudhari, the Bengaluru Bulls and Telugu Titans served up a thrilling low-scoring encounter that saw the teams share the points, with Rahul making a miscalculation on the buzzer raid that could have given the Titans the win.
The contest was an even one from start to finish as both teams exchanged blows. Keen to not lose their star raiders for long stretches, both teams erred on the side of caution leading to the game being a low-scoring affair despite the likes of Rahul Chaudhari, Nilesh Salunkhe, Rohit Kumar and Ajay Kumar featuring.
There were plenty of empty raids on display as both teams chose to pounce on the Do or Die Raids.
Two points were the largest lead of the first half and after being behind for much of it, the Bulls managed to take a slender 9-8 lead into the break. The Bulls carried that momentum into the second half and got two men out quickly with raids from Ashish Sangwan and Rohit Kumar.
The Titans were reduced to just one man and the Bulls quickly effected the All Out, leading 14-9. With plenty of time remaining, the Titans mounted a quick comeback to reduce the deficit to three points. Yet, every time the Titans made a move, the Bulls responded to push the lead back up again.
As the game entered its final stretch, the Bulls had managed to take the lead up to five again, leading 20-15 with under three minutes left. Rakshith of the Titans then effected a superb 2-point raid that brought them to within three. The Titans then captured Bulls captain Rohit Kumar on the Bulls' next raid and Rahul Chaudhari stepped up on the next raid to effect another 2-point raid and level the scores at 20-20.
With less than 60 seconds left and just two men left for the Bulls, Ashish Sangwan showed great composure to get a crucial Bonus Point on a Do or Die Raid and nudge his side ahead again. Rahul came in for the buzzer raid with the game there for the taking. However, after getting a touch and being keen to get over the half line with no time remaining, he missed an opportunity to get a second touch that would have resulted in an All Out and given his side the win.
He realized his error as he crossed back into his half, falling to the floor as he recognized the opportunity that he had let slip with Rohit Kumar and his Bulls relieved to take a point.
Rahul finished the game with eight points while Rohit had five.
#3 Match 20 - Bengaluru Bulls v Bengal Warriors - Bulls won 31-25
The Warriors remained one of two teams yet to lose a game in Season 5 of Pro Kabaddi. The revamped side had made a strong start to their campaign. Led by captain Surjeet Singh, their defence had looked strong and with powerful raiders in their camp, they had been a very good all-round team.
Having already taken down two strong raiding teams in Rahul Chaudhari's Telugu Titans and Nitin Tomar's UP Yoddha, Rohit Kumar's Bengaluru Bulls were next on the list for the Warriors.
The Bulls started strongly though, taking a 3-0 lead and then a 5-2 lead as they managed to get Maninder Singh, a key raider for the Warriors, out early. The Warriors' Korean star, Jang Kun Lee, managed to bring them right back in the contest and helped them overturn the deficit and take an 8-6 lead of their own.
With the battle truly on, the Bulls made a little run of their own to take a 12-10 lead into the half.
The game continued to be a tight contest in the second half and despite Maninder being kept quiet, Lee was bringing in points on the raid for the Warriors. Rohit kept adding points steadily for the Bulls, but Ajay Kumar continued his quiet tournament so far. In a fine moment though with the game calling for someone to land a telling blow, Ajay provided the defining moment of the match in the 7th minute of the second half with a 4-point raid that took out all of the Warriors' key defenders and pushed his side to a 20-16 lead.
Lee kept the Warriors in the game, but with Maninder continuing to struggle the Bengal side could get to only within five points of the Bulls with the Bengaluru side winning 31-25 in the end.
Crucially in this match, the Bulls were twice down to one man, but they managed to survive. In the first half with just Rohit on the mat, Ran Singh jumped the gun and the Bulls avoided an All Out. Rohit followed that up with a Super Tackle on Lee on the defensive end. On another occasion, it was sub Harish Naik who effected a last man raid. The Bulls played long stretches in the first half with three men or under and their Super Tackles really kept them going in those moments.
Ajay led the way with eight raid points while Ashish Sangwan starred for the Bulls defensively with a 100% success rate on his five tackles.
#4 Match 21 - Puneri Paltan v Jaipur Pink Panthers - Panthers won 30-28
The last double-header from the Nagpur leg provided some breathtakingly close encounters and both matches make our list.
In the first encounter, the Pink Panthers survived a late charge from their opponents as the Pune side made a terrible misjudgement on the last raid to suffer their first loss of the campaign. Jaipur were playing without Selvamani, one of their main raiders, who had gone off injured during their first match.
Manjeet Chhillar, one of the best all-rounders in the game, was captain of the Paltan last season, but was let go as the franchise opted to retain the younger Deepak Niwas Hooda over the veteran. Manjeet looked to have a bit between his teeth in this encounter as he put on an outstanding overall display to lead his side to victory.
True to form, the Paltan started the brighter and held the lead early getting rid of Jaipur's key men in Manjeet and raider Jasvir Singh. However, Tushar Patil's successful raid in the 7th minute not only brought his side back to 4-6, but also revived Manjeet. Immediately his presence was felt as he took out Pune dangerman Rajesh Mondal on a Do or Die raid with a strong frontal block.
Marshaling his troops superbly, the Jaipur defence tightened up with their captain's return. Manjeet even contributed raid points, getting Girish Ernak with a deft toe touch in the 16th minute of the first half. The Panthers led 14-11 at the half.
With Pune captain Deepak Niwas Hooda having an off-day, the onus fell on all-rounder Sandeep Narwal to fetch raid points. However, Manjeet seemed to have his number tackling Sandeep on numerous occasions to render him ineffective.
Jaipur got the All Out at the start of the second half to jump out to a 17-11 lead. Jasvir was looking cocky, Manjeet was looking commanding and with Deepak Niwas Hooda struggling, the Panthers looked close to getting their first win. With 12 minutes remaining, they led 23-15.
Rajesh Mondal started what proved to be the Pune comeback in the 7th minute of the second half when he got Manjeet out on a raid. As Manjeet went to the bench, the Paltan sensed their chance and came storming back.
Sandeep Narwal delivered a fantastic 3-point raid. However, the Panthers held firm, pulling off Super Tackles when less than full-strength and still had a 10-point advantage with six minutes remaining. Pune chipped away and with a late surge reduced the deficit to 27-30 with under a minute left and just two men remaining on the floor for Jaipur.
Jasvir was one of them and he wasted time with an empty raid to leave Pune with the buzzer raid and a 3-point deficit and the Nagpur crowd roaring them on. Sandeep Narwal though completely botched the final raid of the match. Somvir Shekhar, a defender, was the other man on the court with Jasvir for the Panthers. Sandeep got a touch on Somvir, but instead of then getting one on Jasvir and getting the All Out which would have given his side four points in total (2 touch points + 2 for All Out), he sprinted back towards the midline and went back to his half.
A bemused Jasvir celebrated as he could not believe the let off his team had gotten. Meanwhile, at the other end, Pune and Sandeep could not believe what they'd done as they ended up losing the contest 27-30.
It was a match where the all-rounders starred as Sandeep Narwal led the way for Pune with nine points (seven raid points + two tackle points) while Manjeet was imperious, also with nine points (two raid points + seven tackle points).
#5 Match 22 - Bengaluru Bulls v Tamil Thalaivas - Thalaivas won 29-24
We started this list with a clash between these two sides and finish with the same two teams as they delivered another thriller to round off the Nagpur leg on the final evening.
After having fallen agonizingly short in their last match, the Thalaivas came into this contest at the bottom of the table in Zone B and delivered a fine performance to pick up their first win. The Thalaivas started much better in this match and after matching the Bulls early, were the first side to pull away towards the end of the first half.
Thalaivas coach K. Baskaran even subbed out captain Ajay Thakur midway through the first half for Dong Geon Lee. The Thalaivas, in fact, had been reduced to just one man at one point, but defender Pradap managed to get a touch on Ashish Sangwan to keep them alive and revive C. Arun.
The two of them then combined to effect a Super Tackle on Rohit Kumar on the Bulls' next raid. Prapanjan and Lee delivered two more successful raids to help their side to a 12-8 lead at the half.
The second half had everything and started with the Thalaivas extending their advantage to 17-9 with the help of an All Out. The Bulls, however, refused to be cowed down in their last home game as Rohit Kumar began to come into his own. With a powerful charge led by their captain and Ravinder Pahal delivering on the defensive end, they inflicted an All Out of their own and trailed 19-21 with nine minutes left, Rohit picking up yet another Super 10 in raid points.
However, try as they might, they just could not overhaul the Thalaivas.
The Thalaivas though stayed resolute and besides their play on the mat, it was their brilliant use of the review that powered them to a win in this game. They got each and every review right throughout the game, although there was a bit of controversy with their last one.
The first big moment came when the Thalaivas' lead stood at 21-20 and Prapanjan was not awarded a Bonus Point by the referees. Upon review, he was granted the Bonus, pushing the lead to 22-20.
The second came with just two minutes remaining. The Bulls had closed in to within two points at 24-26 and Ashish Sangwan came into raid for Bengaluru. It looked like he had gotten a touch on Amit Hooda in the right corner and as Pradap came to push him out, he got a touch on him too. The referees awarded the Bulls two points. The Thalaivas opted to review though and the TV umpire adjudged there was no touch on Hooda in the corner. However, since Ashish and Pradap had stepped into the lobby, both teams were given one point each, meaning the lead stayed the same.
The biggest moment came just a minute later with Rohit Kumar coming in on a Do or Die raid. With the Thalaivas defence giving him nothing, the raid went all the way down to the wire. However, with Rohit retreating after an attempted touch on the left cover defender, Amit Hooda put in a dash to force Rohit out.
The umpires awarded a point to the Bulls, but upon review, it was seen that Rohit's hand had come from out to in which meant the raider was out and the point went to the Thalaivas taking them to a 27-24 lead.
The TV umpire though failed to notice Hooda stepping into the lobby before his dash. Had that been seen, the Bulls would have gotten two points and would have tied it up. That successful review helped the Thalaivas keep their noses in front and hold on for their first win.
Rohit Kumar had his fifth Super 10 of the season finishing with 11 raid points in a losing cause. The Thalaivas got contributions from everyone with Prapanjan and Lee leading the way in raids with six and four points respectively.
