The Patna Pirates put up a clinical performance to defeat Gujarat Giants 34-28 in the Pro Kabaddi League at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune on Monday. Sachin emerged as the best player for the Patna side with 13 points in the match.
In the second match of the day, the UP Yoddhas put up an emphatic performance to register a 43-24 victory over Telugu Titans. Surender Gill (13 points) and Pardeep Narwal (9 points) were the best players for the Yoddhas.
Sachin picked up a few raid points as the Patna Pirates took the lead at 4-2 in the 6th minute. Rohit Gulia also joined the party and helped the Pirates reduce the Giants to three players on the mat. Soon after, the Patna side inflicted an All Out to take a massive lead at 10-5 in the 10th minute.
However, moments later, Parteek Dhaiya pulled off a Super Raid and kept the Giants in the game. But, Rohit kept picking up raid points as the Pirates attained a stronghold of the match at 15-9. Thereafter, Sachin effected a multi-point raid in the 16th minute to help Patna widen their lead. The Pirates kept raging on and inflicted another All Out just before half-time to lead at 21-13.
Gulia continued to showcase prime form in the second half as the Patna side dominated the match at 23-15. The Pirates’ defense unit led by Captain Neeraj Kumar backed up their raiders and helped their team to keep moving forward. Gujarat’s Rakesh pulled off a couple of brilliant raids, but he couldn’t help his team catch up with Patna.
The Giants reduced the Pirates to three members on the mat in the 38th minute, but Sachin carried out a magnificent raid to help his team stay in the lead. The Patna side treaded carefully in the last minute and eventually closed out a comprehensive victory.
A slow start to the game saw both teams trade raid points constantly. The bane of the Titans’ horrible run in the league has been their defence, and in the opening stages of this encounter it didn’t seem like they had improved. Surender Gill and Pardeep Narwal were running riot through their ranks as they pleased, able to pick up bonus points with ease.
Despite their ineffective defending, the Titans managed to keep things on an even keel for the most part. In the last five minutes of the first half though, the Yoddhas pulled away, Gill in particular was rampant. They got the first All Out of the game with the clock ticking away, to extend their lead to 16-8. Their dominance in the final five minutes was stark, they scored 11 points to a mere one by the Titans in that period — as they went into the break leading 20-9.
The Titans kicked off the second half with a Super Tackle, Mohit Pahal catching Narwal out, to lift hopes of a resurgence. Those hopes were extinguished soon as the Yoddhas took complete control of the proceedings and secured two more All Outs in quick succession to surge into a 36-12 lead.
From thereon it was just a matter of time, as the Yoddhas closed out a huge win to move up a place on the table.