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Patna Pirates had featured against the Tamil Thalaivas in the opening encounter of Pro Kabaddi League 2018 at the Thalaivas' home venue - Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai - on the 7th October.
The match had been touted as a battle of the raiders but turned out to be pretty much a one-sided affair, as the Thalaivas' excellent defense came to the fore. The hosts comprehensively defeated reigning champions Patna Pirates by 42-26.
Thalaivas captain Ajay Thakur showed his class to score a Super 10 (14 points in 18 raids) and was supported well in the attack by Surjeet Singh who contributed with 7 points. The Thalaivas' raiders had combined together to score a total of 24 raid points.
But what made the difference at the end was their defense led by the able Manjeet Singh, and supported well by last season's defensive stalwart Amit Hooda. Manjeet's decisive tackles against Pardeep Narwal and his coordination with right corner Amit Hooda gave the Thalaivas a decisive edge in the match as they scored 11 tackle points.
On the other hand, Patna Pirates lost their way in the first half of the match. The 18 points deficit (8-26) at the end of the first half was a little too much for them to come back from. They managed to display a fighting spirit in the last five minutes of the match as they scored 9 points. But Thalaivas took a humongous lead of 24 points at the 35th-minute mark to effectively seal the match.
Patna's raiders did well enough to score 21 raid points led by their captain Pardeep Narwal who started the season with yet another Super 10 with his 11 points from 18 attempted raids. The youngster Manjeet, on debut, scored 8 points of his 11 raids and supported his captain well.
It was the defense of the Pirates that led to their downfall on the night, as they failed miserably and managed a measly 2 tackle points in the encounter. Patna's top defender Jaideep had a bad outing and could manage just a single tackle point of his six attempted tackles.
What has happened since then
The Thalaivas lost the rest of the matches in their home leg and have managed to just win 3 other matches in the tournament so far. They sit at the bottom of the Zone B table with just 25 points off their 12 matches.
The Patna Pirates, on the other hand, have had a better outing as they put their loss in the first match of the season aside to win 6 matches in the tournament so far. They are placed second in the Zone B PKL Points Table with 33 points off their 12 matches.
Patna Pirates and Tamil Thalaivas are set to lock horns with each other once again. Their Zone B encounter will take place today at Ahmedabad.
