Kandola’s Super 10 helps Haryana Steelers seal clinical win over Patna Pirates

Led by Vikash Kandola’s Super 10, Haryana Steelers put in a clinical overall display to defeat Patna Pirates 39-34 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Monday. Though Patna Pirates had more raid points on the board, they were unable to inflict a single All Out on Haryana Steelers while succumbing to three, which made the difference in the end.

The first five minutes of the match were closely contested as both teams’ main raiders, ‘Record-Breaker’ Pardeep Narwal and Vikash Kandola, were sent to the bench early by the opposition defence. However, Kandola got a touch on Jaideep once revived, before Sunil tackled Vikas Jaglan to reduce Patna Pirates down to three.

A Super Tackle on Kandola evened the scores once again, but the raider was revived by his team’s defence soon after and he put in a two-point raid to finally inflict the All Out on Patna Pirates. Pardeep kept adding to his tally by putting in four successful raids before the half ended. But Kandola matched him point-for-point and was well-supported by Prashanth Kumar Rai.

Jaideep sent Rai to the bench in Haryana Steelers’ last raid of the half to make it a two-point game as Patna Pirates trailed 15-17 at the halftime whistle.

It took the ‘Record-Breaker’ just two raids in the second period to equalise the scores, but once he was sent to the bench by Kuldeep Singh, Haryana Steelers started to take control of the match once again. Kandola’s consecutive two-point raids, followed by his successful touch point on Jaideep, helped him bring up his Super 10 and leave Patna Pirates facing another All Out.

Ravi Kumar made no mistake in tackling Patna Pirates’ last man Jang Kun Lee as Haryana Steelers inflicted the All Out in the 7^th minute to take a 27-21 lead. Rai added two more points to his score once Patna Pirates reassembled but Pardeep was relentless and reached his Super 10 in remarkable style with a 4-point Super Raid, which also included a touch on the dangerous Kandola. 

However, Rai and Vinay’s successful raids followed by Kuldeep’s second successful tackle attempt on Pardeep then turned the tides in favour of Haryana Steelers once again. This enabled them to inflict a third All Out with just three minutes left in the contest and take a mighty nine-point lead.

Pardeep got four back-to-back touch points after that but Haryana Steelers had to just run down the clock as their lead remained out of Patna Pirates’ reach.

Top Performers:

Patna Pirates –

Best Raider – Pardeep Narwal (17 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Neeraj Kumar (3 Tackle Points)

Haryana Steelers –

Best Raider – Vikash Kandola (13 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Ravi Kumar (3 Tackle Points)