Pune, Bengal post wins

Puneri Paltan staved off a strong challenge from Bengaluru Bulls to record a 44-27 win in the Pro Kabaddi at the Thyagaraj Stadium here on Saturday. This was Paltan's fifth win and fourth on the trot. Bulls suffered its ninth successive loss.

Ajay Thakur of Puneri Paltans raids against Bengaluru Bulls in the Pro Kabaddi League in New Delhi.

Puneri Paltan staved off a strong challenge from Bengaluru Bulls to record a 44-27 win in the Pro Kabaddi at the Thyagaraj Stadium here on Saturday. This was Paltan's fifth win and fourth on the trot. Bulls suffered its ninth successive loss.

Paltan seized initiative by taking a 4-1 lead. Bulls shook off the slow start to collect four points through Deepak Dahiya's super raid and three by making Paltan all out to take a 10-5 lead in the ninth minute.

Ek Teer, Teen Nishaan! >@BengaluruBulls ’ Deepak took the defenders with him as he completed a super raid. >#LePanga>pic.twitter.com/FLLy1l0YUh

— ProKabaddi (@ProKabaddi) >February 27, 2016

However, led by the charismatic Manjeet Chhillar, Paltan fought back to wrest the lead from Bulls. A dazzling performance from Chhillar, who outwitted the Bulls' defenders to steal raid points and joined hands with Surjeet and Jasmer Gulia to execute some exceptional tackles, helped Paltan immensely.

Deepak Niwas Hooda and Ajay Thakur also contributed important raid points to take Paltan forward. Bulls managed to close the gap by two points but was behind 13-19 at half-time.

Bulls tried to catch up after the change of ends but Paltan, boosted by Thakur's four-point raid followed by two three-pointers through all out efforts, widened the gap.

Bengal defeats Delhi

Bengal Warriors displayed a dominating performance in the second half to beat Dabang Delhi 37-31 in the Pro Kabaddi at the Thyagaraj Stadium here on Saturday. Warriors' eighth victory kept it in the race for a spot in the semifinals. Despite resting Kashiling Adake and Surjeet Singh, Dabang gave Warriors a run for its money in the opening session.

Anil Nimbolkar, who contributed four raid points and two tackle points, and K. Selvamani, who claimed five raid points, led Delhi's fight. Warriors relied on Korean Jang Kun Lee and Mahesh Goud's brilliant raids to stay 16-13 up at the break.

Nitin Tomar's three-pointer and Lee's two-pointer raids apart from a super tackle boosted the Bengal side to make some quick progress after resumption. The team expanded its lead to 12 points within 25 minutes. Dabang rode on Nimbolkar's super raid, which earned four points, to reply strongly but Warriors had got enough cushion to see off the host.

The results: Puneri Paltan bt Bengaluru Bulls 44-27; Bengal Warriors bt Dabang Delhi 37-31.