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Patna Pirates overcame their disappointment against Telugu Titans with a narrow 30-28 win over Bengaluru Bulls to revive their campaign. With this move the Pirates moved to 4th spot. Sandeep Narwal starred for the men in green as he put up an all-round performance gathering 9 points in the process.
Ajay Thakur started the proceedings and returned back with a point in a flash. Manjeet Chhillar showed his quality by getting Bengaluru Bulls’ next 3 points as the Bulls established a 2-point lead (4-2) after 4 minutes. Vijay Malik supported Manjeet ably as the Bulls extended their lead to 3 in the 7th minute.
The Pirates, through a strong defensive effort by Suresh Kumar and Ravi Dalal’s raiding, levelled the score (6-6) by the 11th minute. Both the teams exchanged points and in the 17th minute the scoreline read 9-9 when Manjeet Chhillar scored his 4th point of the match.
Deepak Narwal was tackled and in the final raid, Ashish Chhokar won 2 points for his side as the Bulls established a 12-9 lead at half time. Coach Randhir Singh would be happy with his side’s efforts as they led the Pirates by 3 points.
An action-packed second half
The Pirates inflicted a super tackle on Manjeet Chhillar to make it a 1-point game in the 22nd minute while Gurvinder Singh won a bonus point in the corresponding raid to level the score. The Sandeep Narwal-led side continued their run, which yielded 7 unanswered points as the Pirates led 16-12 with the Bulls on the verge of an all out.
The last man standing, Rakesh Narwal, revived Dharmaraj Cheralathan, but Sandeep Narwal got both of them out as he enforced an all out on the Bulls and extended Pirates’ lead to 7 (20-13). Despite the revival, the Bulls started poorly as the Pirates tackled Ajay Thakur, who was having an unusual off day.
Rakesh Narwal and Manjeet were successful in their raids, while Deepak Narwal and Gurvinder Singh were caught by the Bengaluru defenders as they reduced the deficit to 4 points (21-17) in the 33rd minute. However, Manjeet Chhillar was the victim of another super tackle at the hands of the Pirates in the next raid.
With 4 minutes to go, the Bulls had laid the foundation for a comeback as they trailed by just 3 points and the Pirates on the verge of an all out. However, Deepak Narwal won 2 points for the Pirates while a sensational tackle by Sandeep Narwal increased Patna’s lead to 7 points (28-21).
Dharmaraj Cheralathan started another charge for the Bulls, which resulted in 5 straight points for the team. With 2 minutes to go, Patna’s lead was cut to just 2 points as they suffered an all out, but still led 28-26 as a timeout was called. Patna Pirates ensured they did not let the win slip away from their hands as both the teams won a couple of points each in the final 2 minutes.
With this win, their fourth of the tournament, Patna Pirates displaced Jaipur Pink Panthers to fourth spot while Bengaluru Bulls’ 2-match winning run came to a halt in Delhi. Patna will face the home side – Dabang Delhi tomorrow while Bengaluru Bulls will return home to prepare for the Bengaluru leg.
Man of the match: Sandeep Narwal
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