Pro Kabaddi: Pardeep Narwal sizzles as Patna rout Pune to enter final
Led by Pardeep Narwal’s 10 raid points, Patna Pirates routed Puneri Paltan 40-21 to enter the final of the Pro Kabaddi League at New Delhi on Friday. Pune mounted a comeback into the match after a horrible first half but were never in for a chance and fell short to a Patna team in great form.
Starting Seven:
Patna Pirates: Sandeep Narwal, Sunil Kumar, D Suresh Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Manpreet Singh, Rohit Kumar, Pardeep Narwal
Puneri Paltan: Jasmer Singh, Manjeet Chhillar, Surjeet, Ravi Kumar, Surendra Singh, Deepak Niwas Hooda, Ajay Thakur
After two closely-contested matches in the league stage, which ended in ties, Patna Pirates and Puneri Paltan once again clashed against each other in the first semi-final for a place in the grand finale on Saturday. Patna led the head-to-head record between the two teams and went into the semi-final as the favourites, having won four of their last six encounters.
Patna Pirates started with star raiders Pardeep Narwal and Rohit Kumar in their starting seven, while Pune banked on their defence with skipper Manjeet Chhillar and Surjeet shouldering the responsibility.
Patna captain Manpreet Singh got the match off to a start with an empty raid with the Pune defence keeping it tight. But the leading raider in the tournament – Pardeep Narwal – caught a big fish in his first raid and touched Manjeet Chhillar to put the first points on the board for Patna. Deepak Niwas Hooda brought his captain back into the mat within seconds by evading a tackle from Pune to make it 1-1 in the game.
(Read about defending champions U Mumba's win over Bengal Warriors in the second semi-final)
With Manjeet Chhillar the most dangerous man in the Pune team, Pardeep Narwal looked keen on keeping the man on the bench by gaining another touch in his second raid. With Patna riding on the skill of their raiders, Rohit Kumar touched Surjeet and Ravi Kumar to put his team on a four-point lead at 7-3. Within seconds, Manjeet Chhillar received a bear hug from Sandeep Narwal before Pardeep Narwal competed for the formalities by touching Ajay Thakur to get the first all-out.
In a matter of minutes, Pune was all-out for the second time in the match with Pardeep Narwal producing a four-point raid. Surjeet tackled the man known for his “dubki” and put him on the mat, but Pardeep dragged his foot past the line to score four points and an all-out. Pune looked clueless in the half with no clue about what hit them, while Patna was in an ominous run, both in attack and defence by pocketing point after point. Patna went into the break after twenty minutes of breathtaking action with a 25-7 lead and one foot in the final.
Pune came out for the second half roaring and gathered seven points in a row with skipper Manjeet Chhillar leading the fightback. Patna also suffered their first all-out in the match after Patna captain Manpreet Singh got tackled by Surjeet. Pune looked hungry for more points, but it was once again Pardeep Narwal, who got Patna going. The raider went in and looked for Manjeet Chhillar, and a running hand touch from Pardeep send back the Pune skipper into the bench.
Manjeet Chhillar was the catalyst in the Pune comeback, and with the star man spending most of his time on the bench, Patna looked ominous once again with Pardeep Narwal enforcing the third all-out for Pune. With a 37-19 lead in the 34th minute, Patna seemed to be in the driving seat and grabbed their place in the final for the first time in the history of the tournament by keeping Pune at bay in the last six minutes.
(Read about the history of Kabaddi - The Rise of an Ancient Sport- Kabaddi)
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