India produced a dominant team performance as they eased past Bangladesh 57-20 in a must-win crucial Group A clash of the ongoing Kabaddi World Cup here at the Arena by TranStadia last evening.
Ajay Thakur scored 10 points for India after coming on as a substitute whereas Pardeep Narwal led India's charge in the first half and ended with eight points.
India have got their World Cup campaign firmly back on track after suffering a setback in the opening encounter against Republic of Korea. This was a stern test for India but they showed their class and brushed away a good Bangladesh side with relative ease. India's defence put on a tremendous show as they kept the Bangladesh raiders in their pocket for most of the match.
Pardeep Narwal got the first points for India with a raid in the third minute and Sandeep Narwal followed it with a tackle to give India 2-1 lead. India led 4-2 in the sixth minute with captain Anup Kumar scoring a bonus and tackle point. Bangladesh's Firdaus Sheikh was in good form early in the match as he made four tackle points with score level at 4-4 after six minutes.
India came strongly to score four points in a row to lead 8-4 after nine minutes with defence doing a fine job. Pardeep Narwal scored his fourth raid point in the 10th minute as India inflicted an all out to lead 13-4.
Bangladesh got their first raid point in the 12th minute as they trailed 5-14. Pardeep Narwal was in superb form in the first half and scored his seventh raid point to give India 17-6 lead. Ajay Thakur came on as a substitute to score five points as India led 21-8 after 17 minutes. India inflicted the second all out in the 18th minute to take a commanding 24-9 lead. India led 27-10 at the end of the first half as the attack and defence worked well in tandem to put on a solid performance.
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Both teams exchanged a raid point each at the start of the second half as India led 28-11. India led 34-13 in the 24th minute as Ajay Thakur continued to score raid points at will. India used the opportunity to test their bench strength in the second half and got Surender Nada and Nitin Tomar. A third all out was inflicted by India in the 29th minute to take an unassailable 39-15 lead.
With less than five minutes remaining, India led 48-18 as Surender Nada sent Bangaldesh raiders to the bench with ease and scored four tackle points. India inflicted the fourth all out in 37th minute to lead 52-18. Surender Nada attained a high five in the dying seconds as India recorded a comfortable 57-20.
India will now lock horns against Argentina in their next match on Saturday whereas Bangladesh will need to beat Korea on Thursday to keep their semi finals hopes alive.