Pro Kabaddi League: Patna Pirates, Bengaluru Bulls Notch up Wins

Patna Pirates subdued a fighting Puneri Paltan 31-28 to shoot to the top of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League table in Mumbai on Saturday.

Pardeep Narwal did the star turn for Pirates with his brilliant raiding that got him 12 touch points, while Bhajirao Hodage kept their defense tight and came up with five tackle points including a super tackle.

Pune were kept in the hunt by captain Deepak Hooda (8 raid points) and Ajay Thakur (6 raid points) along with defender Somvir Shekar (3 tackle points).

The victory, ninth from 12 games, lifted Pirates to the top of the table with 47 points in their kitty while dumping Pune to the fifth spot with 32 points from as many games.

After level chugging in the first ten minutes of play, Pirates upped the tempo and led their rivals 10-4 with seven minutes left for half time and then were in front 15-10 at the end of 20 minutes.

This proved to be a handy lead as try as they did in the game of catch-up Pune could not approach their rivals' tally. At one stage the lead widened to 10 (22-12) after Narwal's successful raid for Pirates.

Pune did well to reduce the leeway by six points but could not stop the rampaging Narwal from raiding successfully. Pirates were up 29-21 and in the end just could not overhaul their rivals' score in spite of some inspired raiding by Hooda.

The winners effected two all-outs to their rivals' one.

Bengaluru Bulls edge out U Mumba

Later Bengaluru Bulls pulled off an exciting 28-27 victory over U Mumba and spoilt the hosts' plans of ending the home leg on a winning note.

Bulls pulled ahead of their rivals in the second half and were leading comfortably at one stage before the home team made a determined effort and narrowed the gap.

An all out inflicted by the Mumbai outfit on their rivals in the closing stages helped them further narrow the lead, but in the end one point separated the two teams.

Bengaluru lifted themselves to the sixth spot by this victory and have 31 points with one last game in hand.

Mumbai, on the other hand, were in the fourth spot with 37 points from 13 games and their qualifying hopes stood hanging by a slender thread.

For the winners, captain and raider Rohit Kumar excelled with 8 points, including one in tackling. The team defended well with Mohit Chillar (5 tackle points) and Surender Nada (3) playing stellar roles.

The Bulls also secured four all out points as compared to two for the losers.

Captain and key raider Anup Kumar kept U Mumba in the hunt with 7 points while Rishank Devadiga (4) and Rakesh Kumar (2) did their bid in attack.

Surjeet and Jeeva Kumar stood out in defense for the losers with 5 and 2 tackle points while Rakesh too helped in defense with two tackle points.

Mumba could win only one game out of four in their home leg, which has hurt their chances of qualifying for the last four.