Pro Kabaddi League: Patna Pirates Beat Puneri Paltan by Four Points
Patna Pirates defeated Puneri Paltan 32-28 to win their third match of the second edition of the Pro Kabaddi League.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: August 02, 2015 09:06 AM IST
Patna Pirates, boosted by their convincing victory on Thursday over Dabang Delhi, managed yet another win in Season 2 of Pro Kabaddi League when the defeated Puneri Paltan 32-28 on Saturday. Sandeep Narwal, Deepak Narwal and Ravi Dalal were at the forefront of the hosts' attack which eventually clinched them the issue. (Click here for latest Kabaddi news)
The victory gives Pirates a tally of 17 points with three wins and pushes them up to fourth place in the points table. Pune by virtue of a point have a tally of nine points now.
The limelight was deservingly hogged by Pune raider Pravin Niwale, who is growing in stature with every outing. The slightly built man with his twinkle toes and deceptive hand touches scored nine points and was instrumental in forcing an all-out which was confirmed through a video referral. He kept his team in the hunt till the end. The half-time score of 13-20 for Pune was worrying as their prime raider Wazir Singh was caught time and again. Wazir could hardly muster four raid points on the day but contributed two catching points to make up some lost ground.
Things changed after the break as Patna had all their raiders warming the bench. Pune gradually whittled down the lead to finally get an all-out and make it 24-25. But the winners aware of this kept themselves ahead with substitute Gurvinder Singh getting a couple of bonus points. At the 'final five' stage -- 35th minute to be precise -- the situation was 29-26 in favour of the Pirates with Niwale still troubling them no end. He got a touch on Sandeep Narwal to keep the pressure but a bonus by Ravi Dalal and Wazir's inability to pull out anything special finally gave the Pirates a victory to keep their quest for a top finish going.
"The support from the crowd here in Patna has been fantastic and it has given us the confidence to build on our good performances. We are looking to push ahead from here because the team is doing very well and we want to continue this good run," Pirates stand-in captain Narwal said.
"They (Bengal Warriors) are a good unit and they have pushed all the teams that they have played so far to the line. We will not get carried away with these two victories that we have earned at home. Each team has to be treated with respect and so we will formulate our strategy based on their starting lineup tomorrow (Sunday)," Narwal added.