PKL 2019 | Pardeep Narwal stars as Puneri Paltan lose to Patna Pirates in one-sided encounter

The first half of the match was highly entertaining with both teams throwing caution to the wind in a raid fest. Pune’s young raider Pankaj Mohite was the first to impress with a three-point Super Raid in the fourth minute. But Pardeep Narwal was in no mood to let Pune’s raiders steal the limelight. The Patna raider took control of the proceeding as he targeted the Paltan one by one, ably supported in his defence by rejuvenated Neeraj Kumar. The Pirates’ recent run of form (three consecutive wins) have also been largely to the presence of Korean raider Jang Kun Lee who has chipped in with valuable points as a secondary raider when Pardeep is sent to the dugout.

They worked in tandem and clinched they first All-Out of the match in the 10th minute to open a five-point gap. Patna continued pressing as Pardeep raced to his Super 10 in the dying minutes of the half. His raids, combined with Neeraj Kumar’s tackling (who also secured his High 5 in the half) gave Patna another All-Out in the last minute of the first half to open a 10-point gap (27-17) going into the break.

The second half proved to be the same for Puneri Paltan despite their efforts to mount a comeback. Pune struggled to reduce the points gap. Pardeep Narwal and Neeraj Kumar secured another All-Out in the 10th minute of the match. The Pirates continued their domination till the final stages of the match with Neeraj Kumar reaching double figures for tackle points. Puneri Paltan is now at the 10th spot in the points table.