Patna Pirates march into the final

Pardeep Narwal rose to the occasion and scored 10 points as Patna Pirates mounted a late comeback to beat Puneri Paltan 37-33 in the first semi final of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League. Patna’s defence contributed equally and came up with super tackles in crucial moments as they scored 11 points in the last five minutes to make it to their second successive final. Puneri Paltan’s Manjeet Chhillar became the fourth man to score 400 points in Pro Kabaddi League but his effort wasn’t enough as Puneri Paltan missed out on a place in the final.

Puneri Paltan drew first blood and got a bonus and raid point to lead 2-1 after three minutes. Deepak Niwas Hooda scored with a do-or-die raid in fifth minute and immediately sent Pardeep Narwal to the bench as Puneri Paltan led 3-2. Surjeet Singh got a two-point raid as Patna Pirates led 4-3 in the seventh minute. Patna Pirates’ ace raider Pardeep Narwal had a quiet opening 10 minutes and scored just one point as the game was tied at 6-6. Parmod Narwal, however, swung the balance in Pune’s favour with a super raid in 11th minute as they led 9-6.

Patna Pirates bounced back with a super tackle and leveled the game at 9-9 in the 12th minute. Their defence forced another super tackle in the next minute to lead 12-9. Manjeet Chillar got Puneri Paltan back in the game as he forced a super tackle in 17th minute and got another tackle point as they trailed 13-15 in the 20th minute. Patna Pirates ended the first half with a tackle point and went into the break leading 16-13.

Puneri Paltan began strongly in the second half and scored four points in the first five minutes in response to Patna’s just one point. However, Pardeep Narwal helped Patna forced a super tackle in the 26th minute as they led 20-17. Patna Pirates forced another super tackle in 28th minute to lead 22-18. A super tackle by Patna Pirates was ruled out for being too dangerous as Puneri Paltan leveled the game at 22-22. The momentum swung in Pune’s favour as in the 31st minute they inflicted an all out to lead 25-22.

Pardeep Narwal scored two raid points in two minutes as Patna Pirates trailed 25-28 after 34 minutes. Rajesh Mondal got two points with a brilliant raid in the 37th minute to level the game at 29-29. Patna Pirates led 31-29 in the 38th minute as Pardeep Narwal scored another raid points. Patna wasted a glorious opportunity to inflict an all out as Pune leveled the game at 31-31 in the 39th minute. However, they duly forced an all out in the next few seconds to lead 35-32. Patna’s defence came up with points and crucial moments throughout the match as they prevailed 37-33 at the end.