Pro Kabaddi League 2018 | Match 56: Patna Pirates vs Bengal Warriors Review | 10 November 2018

Three-time defending champions Patna Pirates were participating in their first match after their home leg in the PKL Season 6. With Pardeep Narwal back from a wrist injury, Patna looked forward to dominating this contest against Bengal Warriors. The Warriors, confident after their win last night against Telugu Titans, were raring to spoil the party for the Pirates.

Playing 7:

Patna Pirates – Deepak Narwal, Pardeep Narwal, Jaideep, Vikas Kale, Kuldeep Singh, Ravinder Kumar, Manjeet.

Bengal Warriors – Maninder Singh, Baldev Singh, Adarsh T, Jang Kun Lee, Ran Singh, Surjeet Singh, Ziaur Rahman.

Substitutes Used:

Vijay and Manish from Patna Pirates. Amit Nagar, Rakesh Narwal, and Shrikant Tewthia from Bengal Warriors.

Toss:

Patna Pirates won the toss and chose the court.

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The crowd welcomed Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, mentor for Bengal Warriors, with roaring cheers. To start the game, as expected Maninder Singh and Pardeep Narwal took lead from both the teams but faced an uphill task as both got tackled in their first raids. Both the teams looked in form and traded blows in the initial raids.

The Warriors had a clear strategy of keeping Patna raiders off the mat. Five minutes into the game, the Bengal Warriors defence had a crucial tackle on Pardeep Narwal and followed it up by sending Manjeet to the bench, thus levelling the score to 5-all. Bengal Warriors, after their victory last night against Telugu Titans, probably wished to continue the winning streak so they started by sending both the lead raiders from Patna packing to the bench.

At 11 minutes, Patna Pirates defender Kuldeep with the support of Vikas and Jaideep had a super tackle on the Warrior star raider Maninder Singh which was a crucial moment in the game because the Pirates could’ve seen an all-out, if not that.

With 8 minutes still remaining, Patna upped the ante and reduced the warriors to only 2 men on the court. Pardeep Narwal in his next raid took a touch point on yet another man and the Patna defence tackled the last man standing, inflicting the first all-out of the night for the Warriors. The Pirates stood tall and strong, 16-8.

Mahinder Singh in action. [Picture Courtesy: ProKabaddi.com]

After the all-out, Bengal Warriors looked determined for a comeback. Both Pardeep Narwal and Deepak Narwal were sent packing to the bench. But, the Pirates returned the favour by tackling Ran Singh. 30 seconds before halftime, Maninder Singh took 2 points on Patna Pirates and Pardeep Narwal got tackled for the third time. The match was rather intense with Patna Pirates in the lead at 22-14.

Just after halftime, Maninder Singh was sent to the bench again and Pardeep Narwal revived to action. Patna was growing into confidence and Bengal defence was crumbling under the onslaught of Pardeep and Deepak Narwal. In the third quarter of the second half, Bengal Warriors saw their second all-out of the night and Jaideep scored a High-5 in defence. The scoreboard read 32-14, in favour of Pirates.

With 10 minutes remaining in the match, Kuldeep got a green card from the Umpire. Vijay, the right corner from Patna Pirates tackled Maninder yet again while Pardeep Narwal had a close escape in a do-or-die raid.

With the final 6 minutes remaining of the match, Pardeep Narwal scored a Super-10 and Patna Pirates were absolutely cruising. They inflicted the third all-out of the match to extend their lead to 45-18. The writing was already on the wall. Deepkar Narwal followed the footsteps of his captain and scored a Super-10 of his own. Bengal showed some fight and inflicted an all-out on the Pirates to restore some pride in the scoreboard.

Manjeet during a raid attempt. [Picture Courtesy: ProKabaddi.com]

The match ended on 50-30, in favour of the Patna Pirates. Pardeep Narwal and Deepak Narwal indeed did the damage by creating a 20-point difference, coming from a rather distressing home leg in Patna.

The Pirates' defence was bang on target and always kept the Bengal Warriors’ raiders under pressure. Patna will hope to keep up the momentum while Bengal will look to forget this hefty loss and bounce back in their next clash.

Check the standings of the team in the PKL Points Table.