The best pictures from the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi Final

The Season 3 of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) came to an end with a nail-biting final on Saturday that saw the Patna Pirates narrowly edging the PKL2 winners U Mumba 31-28. The final was replete with drama and some mesmerizing display by both the teams as they fought tooth and nail for the title.It was the Pirates who surged to a remarkable 19-11 lead by half-time before the Anup Kumar-led Mumbai franchise began its enthralling comeback. Mumbai managed to even the score at 28-28 as the match looked to be slipping away from the green-and-yellow brigade before the Pirates stamped their authority once again to emerge the champions.Here are some of the best moments of the final in pictures:

#1 A cat and mouse game ensued

In the game of cat-and-mouse chase, it was the expert U Mumba raider Rishank Devadiga who emerged the winner in the very early stages of the match. With his speed and agility, he instantly managed to evade the Patna defenders led by Sandeep Narwal that put the then defending champions in front and gave them hope of claiming their second title.

But soon that hope was obliterated and the course of the match completely changed as the Patna Pirates came out firing, delivering relentless blows on the team which had reached the final for three seasons in a row. Former Patna skipper Sandeep Narwal was right on target on Saturday as he grappled with authority. He is seen here tackling the U Mumba senior pro Rakesh Kumar and that led to the Season 2 winners being all out in the seventh minute.

#2 Patna Pirates take control of the match

When a side has a player who makes raiding look as effortlessly easy as a child’s play, that team is bound to win. Rohit Kumar, who was later on quite rightly bestowed upon the MVP award, stepped up and put up a splendid display once again. As the hapless Mumbai defenders, Fazel Atrachali (extreme right) and Mohit Chhillar tried to subdue him, Rohit wriggled out and touched the midline to give his team valuable points for executing a super raid.

This stunning shot very much tells the story of the first half. The talismanic U Mumba skipper Anup Kumar is turned upside down while Patna’s Sandeep Narwal grasps his waist tightly in a mind-blowing tackle. The Pirates’ grip on the match till the half-time was just like this.

#3 The crowd support resulted in an electrifying atmosphere

U Mumba fans cheered on vociferously and their support inspired the Season 2 champions to level the score at 28-28 but it was the determined Patna Pirates franchise that had the last laugh.

The Patna support camp too was not far behind. Huge cutouts of the talismanic Patna defender and former captain Sandeep Narwal adorned the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi as the Patna fan brigade voiced their allegiance to their favourite team.

#4 So close, yet so far for U Mumba

The second half brought a lot of applause and smiles for the U Mumba enthusiasts. The team’s owner, the former CEO of UTV Group Ronnie Screwvala too joined in as his franchise staged a superb fightback. Like the champions they were, the U Mumba players went on a rampage to close in on the Patna scoreline and ultimately level the score at 28-28.

The man who led this turnaround was the U Mumba skipper Anup Kumar along with substitute Shabeer Bappu. Anup Kumar completed a total of 300 PKL raid points in this match as his running hand touches and his inspiring leadership halted the high-flying Pirates’ march. He was the highest Mumbai scorer with 8 points in this match and totally wrested the momentum from Sanjiv Kumar Baliyan’s men who went all out in the 29th minute.

But it was the spirited effort and resourcefulness from this man that broke the deadlock between the two teams. Patna Pirates’ Deepak Narwal turned in a fabulous performance that helped him to break free from the Mumbai grapplers and score that one crucial point which put them back in the lead at 29-28. That vital Patna point stopped the charge of the Mumbai unit and the Pirates quickly scooped up the next two points to lay their hands on their maiden PKL trophy.

#5 Let the celebrations begin!

The moment for which Manpreet Singh’s boys have been waiting for three seasons…Patna Pirates are finally the PKL champions!

A fitting celebration from the two men who were integral to Patna Pirates’ triumph on Saturday – Sandeep Narwal (left), who was adjudged the best defender of the tournament and captain Manpreet Singh who inspired the Patna boys to the title.

#6 Smiles galore!

Skipper Manpreet Singh holds the PKL3 trophy aloft for the first time as the jubilant boys from Patna Pirates celebrate.

The key members of the Patna Pirates team bask in their success – (from left) star defender Sandeep Narwal, captain Manpreet Singh, the tournament’s most spectacular performer, Rohit Kumar and the man who broke the deadlock in the final, Deepak Narwal

#7 Posing with the coveted golden trophy

The Patna Pirates were the most dominant team in PKL3 except for a brief spell and reigned on top of the leaderboard for a better part of the season. The green-and-yellow brigade, who finished in the top four the last two seasons and lost just two out of 16 matches this season, are deservedly the champions.

The two stalwarts who were the architects of Patna Pirates’ stunning campaign throughout the PKL3 get to cherish the fruits of their labour. Sandeep Narwal (second from left) who manned the Patna box with gusto holds the trophy with the man who is the best kabaddi player on the planet right now, Rohit Kumar (third from left).