Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 18 of PKL 5

#3 Bhupi to the rescue for the Warriors

Bhupender Singh was the unexpected hero towards the end for the Bengal Warriors

The Warriors took the game to the home side Gujarat Fortunegiants and almost inflicted their first home loss. After a strong first half which they dominated, the Warriors led 14-10 as the Fortunegiants' raiders were kept quiet and Jang Kun Lee and Deepak Narwal raiding efficiently for them.

The comeback from the home side came in the second and it looked like we were going to have a repeat of the match against the Bengaluru Bulls, where the Fortunegiants had a similar match, trailing at half-time, but coming back to win a nail-biter. All signs pointed in that direction yet again as the Fortunegiants whittled down the lead to just two points and eventually managed to tie things up at 19-19 with seven minutes left after Mahendra Rajput's successful raid.

Soon, the Warriors had just one man left on the court and facing an all out, Bhupender Singh was substituted in to go in for the raid. The home crowd was expecting an All Out, but Bhupi played it smart and took advantage of an uncharacteristic error from Gujarat's star defender Fazel Atrachali, took another touch, that of Sachin their key raider as well as the bonus to pick up a fantastic 3-point raid for his side and revive key men for his side.

That gave the Warriors a 23-21 lead and helped them stay alive.