Pradeep Narwal gave Patna Pirates a deserving 29-25 win over Telugu Titans
A SCINTILLATING PERFORMANCE BY THE HARMLESS LOOKING Pardeep Narwal gave Patna Pirates a deserving 29-25 win over rivals Telugu Titans in an action packed Pro Kabaddi League encounter at the Netaji Subhash Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Monday.
Narwal received good support from local boy Rajesh Mondal.
Telugu Titans who could boast of two big victories over their opponents in the not too distant past came against a different outfit which seemed determined to do a course correction.
So dominating were the winners that they managed to get an all-out in the 17th minute of play, courtesy Pardeep who produced a super-duper raid worth 6 points.
He got four rivals which included the super duo of Rahul Chaudhari and Dharmaraj Cheralathan which catapulted his side to a healthy 18-11 lead by half-time.
On the defending side, the Pirates managed just two points and their opponents too did not fare well in that department.
Left corner Sunil, who so far had done well, failed on all four occasions while attempting blocks. But the inability of the Telugu Titans to check the Patna Pirates raiders helped things even out.
In fact, there was only one tackle point recorded by Meraj Sheykh in the first half for the Telugu Titans.
The losing side's attack also lacked teeth with Rahul just about scoring 4 and Sukesh Hegde contributing only 2 points. Prashant Kumar Rai a substitute got 2 points towards the end of the half to get double digits on the scoreboard.
The Pirates after an attacking first half switched their strategy to concentrate on defence after resumption. With their rivals too needing to attack laying traps for them was easy.
Vinod Kumar was at his best stopping Prashant Kumar Rai and Sukesh Hegde to put his side further up at 21-13 by the 25th minute.
Telugu Titans did try to stage a comeback through some spirited display by Sukesh Hegde but that wasn't enough as Rahul who was becoming ineffective had to be substituted.
The Patna Pirates were staring at an all-out till Sanjeev Baliyan withdrew his captain Manpreet Singh for Deepak Narwal and he responded brilliantly. He got a point with a hand touch on Cheralathan to turn the tide. With five minutes left and the score 26-21, all that the winners had to do was hang on to the lead which they did admirably.
