Three-time Pro Kabaddi League champions Patna Pirates had been in the buzz and excitement of fans before the start of season 7 too. When the auctions announced the teams, the Pirates’ strategy of team selection was once again a great source of anticipation in regards to the coming matches. The season 7 squad retains key players like Jaideep, Jawahar Dagar and Vikas Jaglan in the steady leadership of Pardeep Narwal once again. However, the team also has gained a lot of younger players to make it a very talented mix of more experienced and relatively newer guys.
Although the performance this season has not yet reached the level it had in some of the previous seasons, there have been some interesting gameplays that have left the audiences thrilled. Here are some of the best moments of the Pirates from Season 7 so far:
Patna’s first match of the season
In the second match of PKL 2019 and their first match, Pirates showed some great skill and ability despite their defeat. Going against Bengaluru Bulls, the Pirates captain scored his first Super10 of the season. Although the Bulls raider Pawan Sehrawat scored 9 raid points, it was the Pirates who had more total raid points at the end. All-rounder Mohammad Esmaeil indeed showed his mettle with 4 raid points, 2 tackle points and 3 bonuses. While Patna suffered a narrow defeat, one cannot deny that they played a brilliant game against a strong competitor.
A strong defence against UMumba
Although the pirates started off with a strong start in this match with Pardeep Narwal getting a successful first raid, the 5-3 advantage against UMumba did not last. Vikas Jaglan and Lee Jang Kun of the Pirates held the fort admirably when Narwal could not score. UMumba was prepared and launched full-powered tackles on the dubki king who is otherwise known to escape the opposition very stealthily. When the score was 30-31 in favour of UMumba, the Pirates captain strategically tapped out Sandeep Narwal of the opposition but it was Rohit Baliyan’s last raid that was the one that lost Patna this match. It was a close finish that could have gone either way and left the audience guessing until the last minute.
Narwal goes for a Super10
Once again, skipper Pardeep Narwal showed us that he is the one that holds this team together. Off to a good start, Patna scored with the first raid by Narwal and forced Bengal to go back empty-handed in their first couple of raids. Going neck to neck both the teams were on the same ground till they reached the score of 13-13. It was after this point that Patna exposed its weakness- how difficult it is for the team to revive after Narwal is outed. The Warriors took full advantage of this with Jeeva leading their defence. In the end, even a Super10 from the Patna captain could not take Pirates across the 9 points gap that defeated them.
A narrow defeat from Gujarat
Gujarat Fortune Giants chose for Pirates to do the first raid after winning the toss. Captain Narwal once again led Patna with a good start and even did a super raid in early in the game. The team’s confidence was at a high point when Narwal took Gujarat all-out, tipping the score 10-3 in their favour. By the half-time, Patna was still in the lead with 15-11 score. But soon enough Gujarat’s defence came back strong and took Patna all-out and was in the lead with 17-16. While Monu once again showed his skill with a Super tackle to get Narwal back on the mat, the raider could not hold onto that revival has he got tackled again and again. Pirates were good but the Fortune Giants were even better in this last match, ultimately winning by 29-26.
After their consecutive wins and a nearly consistent record of great performances in the previous seasons of Pro Kabaddi League, Patna is still finding their footing in this season. Despite Pardeep Narwal’s three super 10s and Monu’s highest number of super tackles in the season, the Pirates need to work better as a team. With brief highs to show us exactly what they are capable, we are still looking for that ground-breaking moment for Pirates to shine once again. Keep following the Patna Pirates for more such great highlights and the performances yet to come!