Home team Puneri Paltan held Patna Pirates to a 30-30 draw at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune. Pardeep Narwal scored 11 raid points and 3 tackle points to ensure his team’s unbeaten run continued, while Ajay Thakur’s 7 raid points and an all round performance by Manjeet Chhillar helped the Paltan avoid a loss against the Pirates.
Pardeep Narwal got the ball rolling for Patna Pirates with 2 points in the second minute. Tushar Patil got the home team off the mark while both teams exchanged blows till the 8th minute as the visitors led by 3 points. Manpreet Singh and Pardeep combined to inflict an all out on Puneri Paltan in the 10th minue. The duo reduced the Paltan to just 1 man, before the captain completed the all out to put his side 12-4 in the lead.
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Manjeet Chhillar and Ajay Thakur headed Puneri Paltan’s mini-revival as they made it a 5-point game with 4 minutes to go in the half. The 29-year-old Arjuna awardee got the visitors on the verge of an all out a minute later. Substitute Gurvinder Singh was tackled in the resulting raid as Patna Pirates suffered an all out of their own. Just when the home team looked like restoring parity, young Pardeep Narwal conjured up a super raid to make it 20-16 at the halfway mark.
A sensational comeback by Puneri Paltan
Manjeet began proceedings in the second half with a successful raid, but it didn’t take long for the indomitable Pirates to restore their 4-point lead, which they held till the 31st minute. Surendra Singh made it a 2-point game 2 minutes later and Tushar Patil reduced that deficit even further with an exquisite raid 5 minutes from time.
18-year-old sensation, Pardeep won 2 points in his raid, but he was tackled in the 38th minute as the Paltan trailed by 2 points. Ajay was jumping in joy in the 39th minute after his raid, but the referee cut short his celebration by declaring him out. Manjeet called for a review to challenge the umpire’s decision, which turned out to be successful and that made it 30-30 on the scorecard.
The final two raids were empty raids as Star Sports Pro Kabaddi Season 3 experienced its first ever draw. With this result, Puneri Paltan became the first team to avoid a defeat at the hands of Patna Pirates.
FT: Puneri Paltan 30-30 Patna Pirates
