Pune: Gujarat Giants and Bengaluru Bulls played out an absolute thriller to kick off the Pune leg of PKL Season 11 at the Balewadi Sports Complex’s Badminton Hall in Match 89.
Both teams finished with the scores at 34-34 on Tuesday night.
For Bengaluru Bulls, Nitin Rawal bagged 7 points while Pardeep Narwal and Sushil scored 6 each. However, Gujarat Giants, who led for most parts of the game, had Rakesh registering 7 points and Neeraj Kumar getting a High 5 as well.
Gujarat Giants got off to a quick start with the defensive unit led by Rohit thwarting Bengaluru Bulls’ early advances.
However, Bengaluru Bulls’ defenders too stepped up to the mat with vigour, ensuring that Gujarat Giants would not be able to run away with an early lead.
After the first five minutes, Gujarat Giants were leading the battle of the defences by two points.
Soon after, Gujarat Giants’ Parteek Dahiya started to land a few quick raids, which gave them the momentum. Bengaluru Bulls though weren’t backing off with Nitin Rawal, Jai Bhagwan and Parteek looking effective in their respective roles.
Pardeep Narwal scored his first points after 12 minutes and a little later, Bengaluru Bulls were on level terms with Gujarat Giants.
Narwal notched up a few more valuable raids in the final minutes of the first half to give Bengaluru Bulls the lead at the break. At half-time, Bengaluru Bulls led 15-13.
Rakesh’s raids helped Gujarat Giants begin the second half strongly, after which Neeraj Kumar forced an All-Out on Bengaluru Bulls. Gujarat Giants were back in the lead and were looking to grab the bull by its horns.
But as the half wore on, Bengaluru Bulls kept chipping away at the lead. Jai Bhagwan and Sushil combined to reduce a five-point gap to two.
Rakesh was making a big impact on the contest with a flurry of important raids, which helped Gujarat Giants keep their noses out in front.
With less than a quarter of the game to go, Gujarat Giants held onto their lead, but Bengaluru Bulls were doing their best to mount a comeback.
Nitin Rawal was soldiering on in defence while Sushil and Jai Bhagwan were battling it out in attack, along with Pardeep Narwal for Bengaluru Bulls.
As the final five minutes began, Gujarat Giants led by five points. In the final minutes, Neeraj Kumar and Nitin Rawal registered High 5s for their respective teams.
But there was more drama in store as the teams went into the final 30 seconds with the scores tied. And it remained that way at the final whistle.
