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Patna Pirates put Haryana Steelers to the sword in Monday's crunch Pro Kabaddi League eliminator. The two-time champions registered a comfortable 69-30 victory and will clash against Puneri Paltan for a spot in the final.
What this author is about to write is not a typo. Pardeep Narwal scored 34 raid points on the night, more than the entire Haryana team (30). He executed a monster 8 point raid in the second half. Narwal took out six men in one go and picked up another two for inflicting a stupendous all out. Let that sink in.
Post the game, in his typical introverted fashion, Patna's superstar only spoke one sentence, explaining his mammoth raid.
"It wasn't difficult at all, nobody has done this ever! I will speak more in season 6. For now, I will continue like this," he said.
In what is an astounding statistic, out of the 34 points, Narwal scored only two bonus points. The other 32 came from touch points. Testament to the fact that he chose to take risks on a night when the pressure was well and truly on him to deliver.
Patna Pirates coach, Ram Mehar Singh, usually critical of his star raider could not contain his excitement. Pardeep's performance was the best we've seen in the history of the competition. This is no hyperbole.
"He completely changed the outcome of the game. When a player scores 8 points in one raid, the oppositions teams backbone is bound to break into pieces. Every single Haryana player disappeared into the bench after his raid," the coach said.
The coach did reveal that the recent records set by the other players in the league inspired Pardeep a lot. He reckons Narwal was hungry for points and displayed unreal levels of ambition against Haryana.
"Previous to tonight, Rishank Devadiga (28) had broken the record and then Rohit Kumar(30). I told Pardeep that he can do it too and he was intent on breaking it," he stated.
Patna's thumping win comes at a time when they suffered a dip on form. Over the last few weeks, the Pirates struggled to operate as one cohesive unit.
It reuslted in Bengal Warriors edging them to the top of Zone B. Singh revealed that his team did not come into this game with a lot of confidence but admitted he had completely pinned his hopes on Narwal.
"We hadn't been performing to expectations in recent times. Pardeep and the entire team was under pressure. We failed to top our group and this caused tension. We kept urging him that it's time for him to break the record," he signed off.
