Pardeep magic gives Patna a hat-trick of titles

Patna Pirates came back from an early 7-point deficit to win 55-38 in the VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 5 final against Gujarat Fortunegiants at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. After failing to score big in the two previous encounters against Gujarat, Pardeep Narwal finally came good and scored 19 points to seal a third title victory for his side. Monu Goyat (9 points) and Vijay (7 points) supported Pardeep well to make life even more difficult for the Fortunegiants. Sachin was Gujarat’s top scorer with 11 points.

Rakesh Narwal and Monu effected big raids early on for their respective teams but the Gujarat defence held steady to inflict the first All-Out of the night on Patna, which gave them a 9-3 lead. Sachin and Sukesh Hegde soon came to the party as well as Gujarat extended their lead to 14-7, bringing Patna down to 4 men in the process. The Pirates ship was steadied by Vijay and Monu though, and a brilliant 5-point super raid by Pardeep finally inflicted an All-Out back on Gujarat as Patna levelled at 15-15. The Pardeep-Monu combination marched on from there to take their team 21-18 ahead at half-time.

Gujarat tried hard to avoid another All-Out in the second half but Pardeep’s raids proved too good for them and they conceded an All-Out in the 4^th minute. In spite of a having 29-26 lead, Patna were under pressure as they were brought down to 4 men by Gujarat. But all-rounder Vijay once again rose to the challenge to get his team back in the game before another 5-point raid from Pardeep inflicted a third All-Out on Gujarat, giving his team a huge 38-27 lead. Jaideep, meanwhile, held the Patna defence together and soon reached his High 5.

Patna were down to their last man Pardeep in the 16^th minute but the season’s highest-scoring raider helped them avoid an All-Out with a super raid and then the defence responded with a super tackle on Chandran Ranjit to put the pressure back on Gujarat. A fourth Gujarat All-Out with little more than a minute left to play ensured Patna would win with a huge margin. The match finally ended with Patna Pirates winning 55-38 and lifting the trophy for the third time in a row.

Check out our snapshots from this match here.