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What was touted as a battle of the raiders, turned out to be pretty much a one-sided affair, as the Tamil Thalaivas brought their excellent defense to the party and comprehensively defeated the reigning Champions, Patna Pirates' 42-26.
Last year's bright spot, the captain, Ajay Thakur again showed his class to score another Super 10 (14 points in 18 raids) and was ably supported in attack by Surjeet Singh (7 points). But what tuned out to be the differentiator was the defense of the Thalaivas' led by the able Manjeet Singh. While the Thalaivas' defense got 11 tackle points, the Pirates' could only manage 2 points. Manjeet's proactive tackles against Pardeep Narwal, and his combining well with the right corner, Amit Hooda and the cover Darshan, gave the Thalaivas a decisive edge in the match.
The Pirates', on the other hand, started to show some spirit in the dying moments of the match but it was too little and too late. They are in need of a serious introspection as they have been handed a heavy defeat in their very first match of the tournament. The other teams have gone back to the drawing board after the last season and figured out a way to tackle Pardeep Narwal, the point-scoring machine. The Pirates' single-handed dependence on Pardeep's scoring ability has put much undue pressure on the young lad.
Even the Pirates' defense was in a sorry state, as their ankle-hold expert, the left corner Jaideep failed to figure out a way to tackle the Thalaivas' raiders and ended up with just 1 point.
Tournament predictions:
Tamil Thalaivas: A good mixture of experience and youth, and the duo of Manjeet and Ajay working like a well-oiled machine makes the Thalaivas' top contenders in Zone B.
Patna Pirates: The coach, Ram Mehar Singh, and the support staff need to find a good combination of defensive personnel and enable young raiders such as Manjeet (scored 8 raid points) if they want to have a chance at qualifying for the knockouts.
