PKL 2019 | Defence made errors during turning points, says Ram Meher Singh

Patna Pirates lost their last night’s match with the scoreline of 39-34 against Haryana Steelers. Their problem of not being able to revive Pardeep Narwal haunted them again as once Pardeep was ousted, he only came back after an all-out. Patna conceded an all-out nine minutes into the game and gave Haryana five points.  Patna tried their hardest to come back and finished the first half with a score of 15-17.

Pardeep’s four-point super raid 10 minutes into the second half did help the matter but in the very next minute, Patna’s defence gave away two points hence lessening the impact of the super raid. 

“I think there were certain places which could have been the turning point of the match, where the match was coming our way, but the defence made some errors during those times. That is the reason, I believe, we lost this match,” coach Ram Mehar Singh said in the post-match press conference. 

Even after receiving the third all out, Pardeep tried his best to close the point difference to less than seven and he was even successful at it. We saw Pardeep change his strategy as he focused more on bonuses in this game. He scored 17 raid points and also completed his career 56th super 10. Jang Kun Lee also supported him well by scoring seven raid points. Whereas the team’s defence was only able to score six tackle points with 22 unsuccessful tackles to their names.

“If one department does so well and we play out of our skins, but still have to settle for a loss, it is obvious that it will hurt,” skipper Pardeep concluded.