Patna Pirates ended their home leg with an enthralling 29-27 victory over Bengal Warriors in a low-scoring game at Patliputra Indoor Stadium on Thursday. Stand-in captain Jaideep inspired the home team with a High 5, leading them to victory after suffering four successive losses.

Bengal Warriors started the first half on a high as they began the game with four unanswered points. Patna Pirates got on the board in the 5th minute courtesy a touch by Tushar Patil on Amit Kumar. Patna Pirates then responded with four unanswered points of their own as they took the lead for the first time in the 9th minute, leading 5-4.

Check out the photos from the match here.

The teams continued exchanging points and were tied at 6-6 before a Vijay Ankle-Hold on Ran Singh helped Patna Pirates inflict the first All-Out of the match in the 11th minute to lead 9-7. Bengal Warriors tried getting back into the game, but Patna Pirates kept chipping away with points of their own.

Bengal Warriors never let their deficit go above four points as both teams kept on getting points. The teams played on Do-or-Die raids as the next points until the end of the half were all secured on the back of them. They reduced the deficit to one point after successive points with an Amit Kumar-Ankle Hold and a touch point by Ran Singh. Patna Pirates then took a slender three-point lead into the half with the scores reading 15-12.

The second half began in similar fashion as both teams looked to play on the Do-or-Die raids. Bengal Warriors tried staging another comeback, but Patna Pirates were getting frequent points as well. A Surjeet Singh-Block on Manjeet reduced the deficit to a point with the scores reading 21-20 before Patna Pirates went about increasing their lead again.

Jaideep completed his High 5 in the 16th minute with an Ankle Hold on Ran Singh as Patna Pirates’ lead went up to four points with the scores reading 25-21. Bengal Warriors came back with four unanswered points to level the game in the 18th minute after Vikas Jaglan stepped out of the playing area.

Visit the matchcentre to relive the contest here.

With all to play for in the last two minutes, Deepak Narwal came into his own. He stole two points from Bengal Warriors’ defence to put Patna Pirates back into the lead. Kuldeep Singh tackled Mahesh Goud to effectively end the game before sacrificing himself to ensure Bengal Warriors got just one point off the final raid of the game; the match ending in a 29-27 victory for Patna Pirates.

Top Performers

Patna Pirates

Top Raider - Deepak Narwal (7 raid points)

Top Defender - Jaideep (5 tackle points)

Bengal Warriors

Top Raider - Ran Singh (7 raid points)

Top Defender - Amit Kumar (3 tackle points)