Patna Pirates upgraded their reputation from unbeaten to unbeatable in the 24th match of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi and Bengal Warriors sunk deeper and saw their chances of making it to the semis almost vanish as they suffered another humiliating defeat against the Pirates in Pataliputra Sports Complex in Patna.
The home side turned in a performance similar to the ones that they did in their previous encounters as the team revolved around the individual brilliance of Pardeep Narwal to make short work of the bottom placed Bengal Warriors. Captain Dharamaraj Cheralathan stepped up too and came close to breaking the record of highest defence points in a match. But, as always, contributions came from every department for the Pirates to rocket them to the top position in the league table, which was held briefly by U Mumba after their win against Bengaluru Bulls.
While it was always supposed to be a mismatch, it didn’t appear so in the first few minutes at least. Bengal showed some spunk to start the proceedings. Vishal Mane foiled Pardeep Narwal’s raid in the 4th minute to put the team at level pegging. But Bajirao Hodage, up against his ex team was too good for the young raider Monu Goyat in the next minute. Pardeep Narwal, after being revived, started taking down one defender after another with his running hand touch in a way that would have made the best of the snipers proud.
Captain Cherlathan then brought in his perfect block to bring down Ravi Dalal to inflict the first All out on Bengal Warriors within the first 10 minutes.Vishal Mane was back in action and after accounting for Narwal earlier, he even foiled Rajesh Mondal’s raid attempt to narrow the gulf. Yet, there were no signs of panic in the Patna camp as was exemplified by yesterday’s hero Abolfazel Maghsodlo’s coolly taken raid just seconds after his introduction in the game.
The Warriors were still trying to make a match of it in the first half, but Narwal obviously wasn’t going to let them as he earned 2 crucial points to extend the lead and revive Rajesh Mondal ahead of the half time whistle. The Warriors were guilty of not being able to sustain the pressure as they went into the half time staring at a 5 point deficit.
Half Time Bengal Warriors 12 - 17 Patna Pirates
In the second half, the match picked up pace as the scoreboard moved quickly for both the teams, although Patna, riding on Narwal’s brilliance remained far ahead of the Warriors. The Pirates were flashing off their bench strength as despite some of the major names seated on the bench, they were going on making dents at Bengal’s efforts. Even the 41 year old Dharamaraj Cheralathan was raiding, such was the confidence of the Pirates.
It was in defence though where he was showing what makes him one of the most reliable names in the league, bringing down one raider after another to finish the match with an almost record equaling 9 tackle points.
With a 10 point lead, and the match as good as in their kitty, Pirates also gave new faces of the squad exposure of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. With 8 minutes left, Jang Kun Lee was brought in for the first time in the match. Fazel Atrachali then jumped into the Pirate party with a super tackle in the 34th minute to remind his fans of what he is capable of. Atrachali hasn’t enjoyed the best of the seasons with Patna, but has been persisted by the management and paid back for the faith shown in him in Friday’s contest.
The last few minutes saw the Pirates relax a bit as they allowed Bengal to recover some lost ground, and more importantly go past that figure of 18 where they seemed stuck in the last two games. But that was the maximum they were allowed to by the clock which stopped when the score line read 35 -21 to give Patna their 5th win of the tournament. Narwal breached the 10 point barrier for the third time in 4 matches and is clearly proving to be more than a prodigy that he was in the last season.
Full Time Bengal Warriors 21 – 35 Patna Pirates
