Hyderabad, Oct 26 (IANS) Bengal Warriorz and U Mumba played out a scintillating game in a clash of two former champions as they registered the first tie of Season 11 of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) at the GMCB Indoor Stadium, in Gachibowli here on Saturday. While the Bengal Warriorz had the advantage for most of the game, U Mumba fought back, and at the final whistle, both sides were locked on 31-31 and had to settle for the draw for the first tie of PKL Season 11.

The Bengal Warriorz made a quick start with Maninder Singh causing the most problems for the U Mumba side, who were trailing in the early exchanges. However, Manjeet helped U Mumba bring the contest to level terms, even though the Bengal Warriorz looked solid in defence.

It was a tight contest right from the beginning, and both sides had trouble holding onto a lead.

For Bengal Warriorz, Fazel Atrachali, Maninder Singh, and Sushil Kambrekar were doing most of the heavy lifting early on, and at the 10-minute mark, they led by a 1-point. As the first half progressed, the Mighty Maninder continued to rake in the points, which helped the Bengal Warriorz stay ahead of their opponents.

With just under five minutes to go in the half, young Sushil Kambrekar inflicted an ALL OUT on the U Mumba, which helped the Bengal Warriorz further extend the lead. At the half-time interval, the Bengal Warriorz led 20-13.

After the break, Bengal Warriorz kept the U Mumba side at bay. Led by Fazel Atrachali, the Bengal Warriorz defence wore a compact look and wasn’t letting anything pass by.

Meanwhile, the combination of Maninder and Sushil Kambrekar were doing well in attack. But just as the half-hour mark came by in the contest, the U Mumba side started to mount quite a comeback. With 10 minutes in the game, the Bengal Warriorz led by 2 points, and it was getting closer than Fazel and Co would have wanted.

In the final phase of play, Fazel led the defence brilliantly but could not prevent Manjeet from inflicting an ALL OUT on the Bengal Warriorz, which kick-started the U Mumba comeback. Going into the final minute, U Mumba had a 1-point lead but the Bengal Warriorz fought back to bring it back to level terms.

Eventually, the very well-contested match finished as a tie. For U Mumba, Manjeet and Sombir were the stars, while Maninder Singh and Mayur Kadam were the picks of the players for the Bengal Warriorz.