Season 7 of Pro Kabaddi League for the Patna Pirates has ended with a bang with Pirates making new records even in their last match. Throughout the season, the team’s performance has been shaky, leading to a lot of fans doubting the skills of the team. With the last 2 matches before their elimination, Pirates have once again proved exactly what they are capable of. Now, the lingering questions about the reason for the decline in performance are aimed more towards teamwork and team selection rather than the abilities of individual players. But before getting to that, let us take a better look at their closing performances.
Beating Fortunegiants in their game
After a series of consecutive defeats that brought the team further down on the leaderboard, Pirates took this match against to show better performance once again. Although the match started off in favour of Gujarat, it did not stay that way for too long. Under the expertise of Pardeep Narwal, as captain and the best raider on the team, the game became neck to neck rather in any one team’s favour. While raiders from Pirates had running hand touch, the Dubki and many other tricks up their sleeves; the Fortunegiants’ defence showed incredible resilience in the face of the enemy team. By the end of the first half, Gujarat had made some significant progress by reaching the score 19-14 in their favour.
After the second half started, this 5 point lead only increased with Gujarat enforcing another all-out on the Pirates. But once again, they could not maintain this lead for long as Pardeep Narwal came back in the court. In one instance, he even dragged back two opposition defenders with him to the midline despite being held on both legs and an arm. Putting the Gujarat team in all-out and earning 4 points for this raid, it was abundant that the level of skill and experience he operates on is very advanced. Jang Kun Lee and Esmaeil Maghsoudlou further pushed the team towards victory with some excellent plays. Ending the game with a successful tackle, Patna Pirates win with a 6 point lead at 39-33.
Breaking records against the Warriors
Bengal Warriors took a strong lead at the beginning of the game but Patna’s excellent form from the previous game was here to stay. In no time at all Patna’s defenders showed their mettle and evened out the score to 9-9. Pardeep Narwal also put the opposition in all-out with a stunning 5 point raid. Narwal’s Dubki and other escape tactics were phenomenal, leading to more all-outs and a score of 17-27 in Pirates’ favour by halftime.
Bengal players were clearly more agile and active after the halftime and once again pushed back against the Pirates tactics. They were successful in some of it as Patna’s defence started wavering in the face of raiders like Rakesh and Patil. In direct contrast to the defence, Pardeep proved himself more and more difficult to pin down. Clearly seen in many raids, the Dubki King required almost the whole opposition to block him. He reached a career-high of 34 points in a single match via a six-point raid, a record in itself. The victory was visibly Patna’s by the time the score reached 55-38, a joint effort of the raiders and the defenders getting back in form. The game ended with Patna Pirates winning 69-41 against Bengal Warriors, breaking their own previous record of the highest-scoring match in the last season too. 
Despite this record-breaking victory in their last match, Patna Pirates did not qualify to go to the final matches for the title of Champions. Amidst the speculations about why did they perform poorly in many matches, one thing has been made clear, that it is not because of any lack of skill. While some players in the team had years of experience with the Pro Kabaddi format, others were debutantes; it is a combination that is as likely to be a hit as it can be a miss. In the Pirates’ case, it worked in some matches and did not in others, a trajectory of wins and losses that can be clearly mapped out.
Patna Pirates will certainly be back with a bang and exciting new surprises for their fans in the next season of Pro Kabaddi League. Look out for your favourite team from the start and be the first ones to know the details of how the team is coming along in the coming season 8!