Pawan Sehrawat was the toast of the night as he scored 22 points (19 raid points and 3 tackle points) to help Bengaluru Bulls get the better of Haryana Steelers 42-28 in match 22 of Pro Kabaddi Season 8 at the Sheraton Grand, Whitefield in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Pawan’s special liking towards Haryana Steelers was visible as he looked sharp in his raids. Primarily a right-side raider, Pawan worked hard on raiding from both sides and put all his learnings to use as he caught Haryana Steelers off guard.
The gulf of difference in talent was evident as Pawan was exceptional on the night. Vikash Kandola was the next best raider with just seven points.
Incidentally, Pawan Sehrawat had scored 39 points against Haryana Steelers in Pro Kabaddi Season 7.
‘The Hi-Flyer’ Pawan had good bursts of pace in his raids and got off the mark with a fine touch on Surender Nada and then followed it up with a touch on the right corner defender in his next raid as Bengaluru Bulls started dominating the game.
The Haryana outfit were given no time to get into action as they suffered an all-out at 5-10 even before things could settle down.
There was no stopping Pawan. He had enough firepower in him to escape the tackles and cross the line and even scored touchpoints at will as Bengaluru led with a good cushion at 15-7.
The Bengaluru outfit kept their cool with good defending skills as Aman and Saurabh Nandal combined well to stop a rampaging Vikash Kandola.
Haryana Steelers knew they had to stop a rampaging Pawan to stage a comeback and it was Ravi Kumar who did well to stop the star raider on his run as the Steelers tried to reduce the deficit at 9-16.
The Haryana team slowly crawled back into the match at 11-17 when they successfully tackled Chandran Ranjit and it was veteran Surender Nada who sent Pawan back to the bench immediately with a good back hold.
Nada used all his experience and anticipated a back-kick and then when Pawan went for a reverse toe touch, Nada did well with a back hold.
Bengaluru Bulls were a team to never be out of the contest as they increased their lead gradually to 19-13 at halftime.
The Bulls started the second half with a bang when they tackled Vikas with a moment of brilliance from substitute More GB. It brought their star raider Pawan back on the mat as Bengaluru led 20-13.
Pawan soon brought up his Super 10, his third of the season, with a bonus point as Bengaluru grew from strength to strength.
Pawan then reduced Haryana Steelers’ Jaideep to a mere spectator on a Super Tackle as he escaped a meek ankle hold from the Steelers’ all-rounder to lead 26-14.
Mayur Kadam got into the thick of things for Bengaluru Bulls when he stopped Ashish in his run as the Bulls inflicted another all out and led 31-18.
Rohit Gulia tried his best to put Haryana back into the match with four points from two raids but at 25-35 and with the clock running out, Haryana Steelers were left with an uphill battle.
Just when Rohit was growing into the game, it was More who was again in action as he sent him back to the bench with a splendid tackle. More initiated an ankle hold and with enough support from Amit Sheoran and Pawan, Rohit was relegated to the sidelines.
Vikash then tried to up the ante for Haryana Steelers with a couple of productive raids but was left with too much to do in the end.
The victory gave Bengaluru Bulls their third straight win of the season. Meanwhile, Haryana Steelers succumbed to their third loss in four outings.
Featured photo: Pro Kabaddi
