Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5 : Even Patna Pirates can't keep Pardeep Narwal down, says Patna Pirates coach. 

The Pro Kabaddi League headed to Sonepat, Haryana for the very first time on Friday. Widely regarded as the hotbed of Kabaddi in India, the venue played host to a thrilling first game between the Haryana Steelers and the Patna Pirates.

The Pirates produced a stunning comeback to draw the game 41-41 as the home fans were left stunned by Pardeep and co. in the final five minutes of the game. Trailing by a massive 16 points at one point in the game, what initially looked like a one sided affair, eventually turned out to be a gripping game.

Patna coach, Ram Mehar Singh though wasn't a satisfied man. He reckons the Pirates could have won the match had his defenders played as well as Monu and Pardeep. Both of them were in ominous form, scoring 11 and 13 points respectively.

"We have a diamond in Pardeep, he can turn the match in any given situation. We have another diamond in Monu Goyat. If our defence would have performed as well as them, the game could have been ours," he opined.

Singh believes playing in Sonepat was a pressure environment for Pardeep since Patna's star man is from the same district. The coach wasn't too optimistic about a comeback initially.

"Pardeep is from Sonepat and he was tackled continuously in the beginning. Our defence wasn't clicking was well. It was a matter of concern. There was a lot of stress, it was going to be difficult to make a comeback. 99% we would have lost this match," he said.

Once again, Narwal was slow to start off the blocks and it proved costly as Haryana ran riot in the first half and for large parts of the second half as well. He, however, did eventually make his impact, and it was a deadly impact. Pardeep scored close to 10 raid points within a span of five minutes.

"Pardeep plays his own game. No team including Patna Pirates can make a plan against him. I am not joking. The other team knows that until you don't tempt Pardeep, he will not leave their half," he stated.

The Pirates miraculously managed to take the lead in the final minutes of the game.However, Haryana had enough ammunition and ensured they didn't suffer an embarrassing defeat after securing such a massive lead early on. Mehar Singh who always sets high standards wasn't too critical of his players

"In the last two minutes, we shouldn't have made those advance tackles. Our defenders were just okay and made some mistakes. These things happen, you can't tell the players much in such a situation. A draw is always better than a defeat," he signed off.