Patna Pirates win 36-34 against U Mumba

Raider Pardeep Narwal came up with a stunning performance as Patna Pirates hold on to beat U Mumba.

Patna Pirates beat U Mumba 36-34 as raider Pardeep Narwal produced a stunning performance to score 18 raid points. It was the second successive win for the defending champions Patna Pirates as they survived a late charge from U Mumba.

Patna Pirates climbed to the second spot in the league with a 100 per cent win record as U Mumba remained sixth in the table. Pardeep Narwal was in electrifying form and scored three points in the first five minutes as Patna led 4-3. A green card was shown to U Mumba captain Anup Kumar in the sixth minute of the first half for talking during a raid. U Mumba defence did well in the first half as Rakesh Kumar helped inflict first super tackle in the seventh minute of the first half. U Mumba forced another super tackle in the 10th minute as they led 8-6.

It was the U Mumba defence marshaled by Jeeva Kumar that helped them rake in the points as they executed four super tackles in the first half. But Patna Pirates inflicted an all out in the 17th minute to lead 14-12. Patna Pirates finished first half strongly as they went into the break leading 16-14 with Pardeep Narwal scoring seven raid points in the first half.

Narwal began the second half in sublime form as he attained a super 10 in the fourth minute of second half as Patna Pirates led 20-15. With eight minutes gone in the second half, Patna Pirates inflicted their second all out to lead 27-17. Rishank Devadiga scored a super raid for U Mumba in the 13th minute of the second half as they trailed 25-31. He followed it up with another raid to record his super 10 in the 16th minute of second half as U Mumba cut the deficit to 27-31. U Mumba inflicted an all out with less than three minutes to go and tied the game at 33-33. It looked like Devadiga could upstage Pardeep Narwal as he got a bonus point in the last minute as U Mumba led 34-33. But it was Narwal who had the last laugh as he scored two points with his final raid and Patna Pirates prevailed 36-34.