Gujarat Fortunegiants kicked off the VIVO Pro Kabaddi season 7 campaign with a stunning 42-24 win over defending champions Bengaluru Bulls at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad. Sachin Tanwar led our raiding department with 7 points, while captain Sunil Kumar claimed 6 points in a rock-solid defensive performance.
Sachin got the first point of a match with his signature running hand touch removing the dangerous Pawan Sherawat and Sunil came up with a fantastic ankle hold to send Rohit Kumar to the bench as we led 3-0 after four minutes.
Mahendra Singh blocked Rohit Gulia to earn the first super raid for the Bulls before GB More made a successful raid in the 10th minute to give us a 7-4 lead.
It was neck and neck until we inflicted an all-out on the Bulls in the 12th minute to lead 11-6. Bengaluru’s defence struggled to deal with Sachin as continued to picked up points with ease in the first half. We inflicted our second all-out at the stroke of half-time when our defence stopped Sumit Singh to claim an unassailable 20-10 lead.
Pawan Sehrawat couldn’t come out on top against the compact Giants’ defence in the last raid off the half and we headed into the interval with 21-10 lead.
We controlled the pace of the game in an emphatic way, never allowing Bengaluru to run away with any easy points.
The Bulls threatened to make a comeback when Pawan dragged three defenders with him to the midline to reduce the deficit to seven points. However, the game changing moment came in the 34th minute when Sonu Gahlawat’s stunning super raid inflicted the Bulls’ third all-out of the game.
Our cover defenders, Sunil Kumar and Parvesh Bhainswal looked lethal in the second half as neither Rohit Kumar nor Pawan Sehrawat had any answers to their impressive tackles. Sunil Kumar completed his high-five after knocking Sumit off the mat in the 37th minute. Vinod made a super tackle for the Bulls at the end, but that didn’t worry us in any way. The game was already in the bag, as we beat Bengaluru Bulls by a comprehensive 18-point margin.
The icing on the cake was that we managed to get 17 points in both raiding and defending department, showing how well balanced the team looks this season.
Full-Time: 42-24
Defender of the match: Sunil Kumar
Game Changer of the match: Parvesh Bhainswal
Moment of the match: GB More
After a dominant performance against the defending champions, the Giants will be brimming with confidence when they face the UP Yoddhas on 26th July, at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad.
