Patna Pirates overcame a sluggish start to record a 43-37 victory over UP Yoddha in the Pro Kabaddi League here on Sunday. Pardeep Narwal scored 14 points to be the star raider once again but it was the Pirates defence that set the foundation for this win.
The efforts of Yoddha’s Shrikanth Jadhav (17 points) and Rishank Devadiga (11 points) turned out to be in vain. Devadiga had an enterprising start; he secured two consecutive raids as Yoddha led 3-1 after three minutes. A minute later, Yoddha sent Pardeep Narwal to the bench and reduced Patna Pirates to just four men. Pirates averted an all-out in the fifth minute, forcing a super tackle to trail 6-3. Another super tackle in the eighth minute by Pirates levelled the match at 7-7.
Pardeep opened his account to give Pirates the lead for the first time in the match in the ninth minute. Manjeet scored with a two-point raid in the 13th minute to give Pirates an 11-9 lead.
Close contest
In the next minute, Patna Pirates inflicted the first all-out of the match to lead 16-10. A super-raid at the stroke of halftime by Shreekant got Yoddha back into the match; the gap was reduced to two points, Yoddha trailing 17-19.
Deepak Narwal came up with a super-raid in the 22nd minute as Patna Pirates avoided an all-out and led 23-18. Two minutes later, Shrikant Jadhav responded with a super-raid of his own as Yoddha inflicted an all-out to level the match at 24-24.
Pardeep’s super raid then took Pirates to 29-26.
In the last 10 minutes, Devadiga tried to get Yoddha back into the contest with a slew of raid points. With just over three minutes left, Pirates led 39-34. Deepak scored a raid point in the 39th minute as Pirates led 42-35, and wrapped up the match in the next minute with a tackle point.
Read: Telugu Titans beats UP Yoddha
Paltan flays Steelers
Puneri Paltan climbed to the top of Zone A table in Pro Kabaddi tournament with a resounding 45—27 win over Haryana Steelers on Sunday.
Haryana Steelers’ poor defensive performance was the main reason for its third consecutive defeat, even though Vikas Kandola put a solid all—round performance and scored 11 points.
Meanwhile, Nitin Tomar got 10 points whereas Rajesh Mondal chipped in with 8 points to lead Puneri Paltan to a comfortable win.
Goyat fails to impress
It was an evenly contested affair in the first few minutes of the match as both teams were tied at 5—5 after seven minutes.
Puneri Paltan then shifted gears with Nitin Tomar getting into the act. Tomar scored three points in two raids as Puneri Paltan inflicted an all out to lead 13—7 after 12 minutes.
Rajesh Mondal then scored with a two—point raid to give Puneri Paltan 15—10 lead after 15 minutes. Haryana’s star man Monu Goyat had a quiet first half which affected the team’s performance. At the end of the first half Puneri Paltan enjoyed an eight—point lead with the score 19—11 in their favour.
Vikas Kandola made a super raid in the 30th minute as Haryana Steelers cut the deficit to 20—31.
However, Puneri Paltan was in no mood to surrender any advantage as it pocketed tackle and raid points at regular intervals. With just a little over five minutes left, Puneri Paltan led 34—23.
All-round performance
Puneri Paltan was exemplary in both attack and defence. While Haryana Steelers scored 20 raid points compared to Pune’s 21, it was the tackle points which let the side down. Puneri Paltan scored 16 tackle points wheres Haryana scored just four.
In the last five minutes, Puneri Paltan kept its composure and kept on picking raid and tackle points. Haryana left itself a mountain to climb and eventually fell short as it crashed to a 27—45 defeat.
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