Captain Pardeep Narwal showed fine raiding skills to lead three-time champion Patna Pirates to a 36-33 win over Jaipur Pink Panthers in the first match of the concluding day of Pro Kabaddi league’s Kolkata leg here on Thursday.
Pardeep picked up 14 points making many successful raids that saw Pirates pull off a fine comeback in the second half. The Pirates captain was ably aided by his South Korean colleague Jang Kun Lee, who made it back to the starting line-up after a break and picked up eight raid points in the process.
The Pirates seemed to be continuing with the nice form that saw them defeat Tamil Thaliavas by a big margin in the previous match. Narwal, who picked up the maximum points against Thalaivas, remained a problem for the Pink Panthers’ defence by making some super raids. The win saw Pirates picking up its second successive win after suffering a series of six consecutive losses.
Jang got vital points for Pirates in the second half which resulted in getting Jaipur ‘all-out’ in the eighth minute. Narwal picked up his ‘Super 10’ with nine minutes remaining in the match. Jaipur kept up the chase with its raiders picking up regular bonus points and its defence securing some good tackles. But the Pirates opened up a three point lead with a minute remaining and preserved it to secure the win.
Warriors sign off with win
In the second match of the evening, Bengal Warriors downed the defending champion Bengaluru Bulls in a close encounter, 42-40, to finish the home leg unbeaten and inched closer to a semifinal berth.
Pawan Sehrawat led a one-man show for the Bulls by picking up 19 raid points in 20 attempted raids but it went in vain.
In the last few minutes in the second half, Warriors skipper Maninder Singh and Sehrawat went toe-to-toe by picking up successive raid points before the latter was tackled with one minute left on the clock. That point gave Warriors the edge before it clinched the tie with a successful tackle on Rohit Kumar in the last raid of the match.
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