Patna Pirates made a stunning comeback and nearly scripted a fantastic win, but fell short at the very last raid as they played out a 32-32 draw with Puneri Paltan in a 2023-24 Pro Kabaddi League match on Staurday.
The Pirates came into the game on the back of a superb win over Bengal Warriors but were unable to ride the momentum in the early stages of the game as they were at the receiving end of the first all out.
Paltan’s three-man raiding unit of Aslam Inamdar, Mohit Goyat and Pankaj Mohite chipped away at the home team’s defence and a tackle from Gaurav Khatri on Manjeet in the 10th minute took the men in orange to an 11-6 lead.
Patna Pirates regrouped well and their raiders, led by captain Sachin Tanwar, targeted Puneri Paltan’s cover defenders to reduce the deficit. At the halfway mark, the Inamdar and team led 19-14.
The three-time champions got off to a strong start in the second half and a multi-point raid from Tanwar had the opposition down to three men, but Paltan defended with great vigour to keep the all out at bay.
However, a mistake from Sanket Sawant saw the side from Pune down to three men once again and Patna Pirates sniffed a comeback. With ten minutes left in the game, they trailed Puneri Paltan by just three points at 23-20.
That was when Tanwar produced a jaw-dropping raid. The captain got past all three defenders in sublime fashion to inflict the all out and put his side in the lead for the first time in the game.
With nine minutes to go, Patna Pirates led 25-24.
The two teams were locked at 27 points before the Pirates upped the ante and went ahead at 30-27 with less than four minutes left.
Mayur Kadam continued his rich vein of form as he brought up a second consecutive High 5 with a stellar tackle on Mohite.
Puneri Paltan mounted a comeback in the dying stages of the game and Patna Pirates led 32-31 with just the final raid left, but Manjeet fell short of the bonus line and was tackled as both sides shared the points.
Dabang Delhi beat UP Yoddhas
Dabang Delhi put the UP Yoddhas to the sword, beating them 36-27. Ashu Malik’s 11 points and a defensive masterclass by Yogesh (5 points), Vikrant (3 points) and Vishal Bhardwaj (3 point) saw them climb to third on the table.
Despite trading points evenly for the first five minutes, the U.P. Yoddhas were immediately on the backfoot, mostly due to Dabang Delhi KC constantly logging touch points. They inflicted the first all out within the first quarter of the game to take a five points lead and never looked back.
The UP Yoddhas hope rode on Gagana Gowda, who stepped up on an evening when Pardeep Narwal looked well below par. The star man did not log a single point in the first half.
Gowda, on the other hand, got the first super raid of the game with a few minutes of the half to go, to ensure the Yoddhas were not too far behind in the game. Dabang Delhi KC went into the break leading 20-13.
Gowda’s lone charge came to no avail and with Narwal faltering there was little the U.P.Yoddhas could do to contain the Dabang Delhi KC dominance.
The lead kept rising each time Malik went on raid, and soon enough Dabang Delhi KC got a second all out, this time to extend their lead to ten points at 33-23 lead.
Gowda got his well first-ever super ten in the final quarter of the game, but from there it was damage control for the U.P. Yoddhas who looked to salvage a point from the encounter. It wasn’t to be though as Dabang Delhi KC took a massive nine point victory.