The journey of the Patna Pirates has been great in the eighth season of PKL until now. With only two losses in total and a draw, the team has ensured a stellar performance throughout all the matches. And, this attitude and determination to win and give their best have led the team to win yet another game.
The powerful defense as displayed by the team on 16th January in its match against Bengaluru Bulls led Patna Pirates to ensure their win. The defense of the team was led by Sunil Narwal’s High Five move with a total of 9 points as Mohammadreza Shadloui picked 3 points to assure that the unstoppable performance of Pawan Sehrawat is not going to work this time. Pawan Sehrawat has undoubtedly led the Bengaluru Bulls to win in previous matches. In this match too, he collected a Super 10 but nothing more than that as he had to spend half the time on the bench while his team’s raiders Bharat Hooda & Chandran Ranjith couldn’t do much on the mat. However, for the Patna Pirates, Guman Singh and Sachin Narwal gave their best with 7 and 8 points respectively, proving their efficient efforts in the absence of Monu Goyat.
A total of nine tackle move points from the Right Cover Sunil and a total of 17 points from the Pirates’ defense made the team ensure their win over Bengaluru Bulls with the difference of seven points, 38-31. The first half of the match began with Pawan’s amazing performance who started the game for his team with the first six-point collection that helped them lead over the Pirates with four points. The seventh point was added to the Bulls’ tally with a bonus point. However, it was tackled by Pirates’ Sunil who sent Sehrawat back to the bench.
Mohammadreza Chiyaneh and Sunil united to pin Chandran Ranjit down. And, Sunil further added a tackle point to the Pirates tally, leaving the Bulls with just two players left on the mat. In addition, Chiyaneh’s perfect touchpoint followed by the ankle hold move on Deepak Narwal made the Patna Pirates inflict the first All Out of the game, taking a two-point lead on the game. The Bengaluru Bulls attempted to regain their lead back but the Pirates were resistant and ensure to match the Bulls point to point and stayed ahead of them with two points on the scoreboard. The firm defense of the Pirates continued with their magic as Sunil and Mohammadreza Chiyaneh sent Ranjit and Sehrawat back to the bench, extending their lead to four points. Before the halftime break, both the teams collected a couple of points to their tally totals with the Patna Pirates leading with 20-16.
Moving ahead in the game, the Patna Pirates maximized their lead to five and the credit goes to a touchpoint collected by Guman Singh. However, Bengaluru Bulls’ Deepak and Saurabh collected a bonus point and a super tackle respectively which made their team get back on the scoreboard. The defense of the Pirates answered the Bulls back with two tackle points, reducing them to only two players on the mat. Further, the Pirates’ touchpoint left the Bengaluru Bulls with only one player on the mat. However, Dong Geon Lee’s touchpoint kept the Pirates from inflicting another All Out. The Patna Pirates refused to step back and added another touchpoint followed by pinning Lee down to inflict an All Out, taking a lead with 28-21. Guman Singh took a two-point raid and later, the defense of the team performed spectacularly with a helping hand from the captain Prashanth Kumar Rai who pushed the team’s lead to 12. This move left the Bengaluru Bulls with only three players on the mat. The bulls’ defense played a super tackle move on Guman Singh and Sachin, which cut the deficit to nine. However, the excellent tackling from the defense of Patna Pirates made the team remain ahead on the scoreboard.
The Bulls’ further earned a point and collected two more Super Tackles in the last few minutes. The Pirates’ defense collected one last point to their tally as Chiyaneh went in for one final raid, confirming an important victory for his team.