Pro Kabaddi: Pardeep Narwal’s 19-point haul in vain as erratic Patna Pirates lose to Dabang Delhi

Dabang Delhi produced a stellar comeback to beat a faltering Patna Pirates side 43-39 in the Pro Kabaddi match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday.

A five-point raid from Dabang Delhi raider Vijay turned the contest on its head as Patna Pirates relinquished a position of strength to slip to a damaging defeat despite raider Pardeep Narwal notching up 19 points in the encounter.

Naveen Kumar and Vijay secured Super 10s for the Delhi side who moved back on to the top of the points table after the victory.

Considering the quality of raiders on both the sides of the mat, it wasn’t surprising to see both the defences take a cautious approach in the early minutes of the encounter.

However, it didn’t stop Pardeep and Naveen from picking up points. Chandan Ranjit, Delhi’s secondary raider, picked up important points in the background, and the pressure finally told when in the 11th minute when Vijay pulled off a stellar block on Patna’s Pardeep Narwal to hand the ascendancy to the Delhi side.

Despite Pardeep spending 8 minutes 25 seconds on the mat, the team kept pace with the Delhi side, with Hadi Oshtorak marshalling the defence. The first half ended with no all-uts and points even at 13-13.

The Delhi side started the second half with a super tackle on Pardeep Narwal but that was perhaps their only positive move in the minutes that followed as Patna took control.

After being revived, Pardeep Narwal steamrolled through a hapless Delhi defence to secure his team their first all-out of the encounter.

The superstar picked another Super 10, and three-point super raid in the 8th minute of the half, as Patna secured another all-out with six minutes remaining to move to a six-point lead.

Pardeep also became the first raider to hit 1100-point mark in Pro Kabaddi history with his efforts.

But Delhi’s Vijay with slightly more than 3 minutes left in the match turned things around once again. He secured a bonus point and four touch points to cut down Patna’s lead to a single point.

Delhi then clinched the all-important all-out with two minutes left in the match to pull open a lead which their defenders helped maintain.

Patna Pirates will be eliminated if Jaipur Pink Panthers beat Telugu Titans on Friday that also sees another crucial game in the race for the playoffs as U Mumba face defending champions Bengaluru Bulls.