No one could have predicted how Pirates’ second match in this season with the Titans would end. With Patna’s wobbly track record and Telugu Titans’ desperation to not sink further on the leaderboard, the match between them on 20th Sept was subject to much anticipation. Another fact that lured the crowds to this match was that two of the top raiders in Pro Kabaddi League would be going against one another. Siddharth Sirish Desai and Pardeep Narwal are near-constant names in the list of top 5 raiders in the Pro Kabaddi League, and a clash like that will always garner a lot of audience interest.
Although the toss was won by the Pirates, captain Narwal asked the Titans to do the first raid. It turned out to be a right decision on their part as Siddharth Desai was dashed out by Jaideep in the first raid of the match, a bad start for Telugu team. Yet, the Titans even it out by tackling Pardeep Narwal in his first raid as well. Perhaps this starting score of 1-1 was the foreshadowing of the total outcome of this match. Matched in their strengths and skill-sets, both the teams struggle to score more points than the other. After a couple of empty raids from both sides, the audience had the pleasure of watching Pirates’ Hadi Oshtorak in action. He took out Desai in a do-or-die raid with a powerfully executed leg hold.
The tides turned in the Titans’ favour when Desai outed Vikas Jaglan and Hadi Oshtorak, two of Patna’s impressive all-rounders. The score then was 11-6 in favour of Telugu Titans due to the opposition’s top defender, Neeraj Kumar, being taken out. It was time for Patna to rise back again after an easy all-out so early in the game. Despite the Korean raider Jang Kun Lee’s determined attempts to score for his team, Patna was still lagging. The cause for excitement finally came in the form of Pardeep Narwal’s 4-point super raid. He scored these raid points literally by the nails of his hand reaching across the midline, taking out Farhad Milaghardan, Rakesh Gowda, Vishal Bhardwaj and C Arun, all in one go!
By the time the match reached 19-19 score at the halfway point in the game, Patna had also put the Titans in an all-out once. It was clear to the fans by this time that the competition was going to be neck-to-neck, no one team letting the other take the lead for too long. Titans fought back to get the favour on their side once again, their defenders giving their all in dragging Pardeep Narwal in tackles and have him sit out. In the absence of their skipper, the Pirates struggled with keeping the score steadily rising. With Rajnish of Telugu Titans completing his Super10, the need for team Patna to up their game became even more evident. And what a game-changer Pardeep Narwal turned out to be once again as he went in for another raid. In a thrilling super raid, Narwal once again took out 3 of the Titans’ players, getting the score to 29-34 and slowly catching up to the opposition.
One could easily see the heat rising between the teams as Desai and Narwal went into raids and kept earning points for their team. Much to the fans’ delight, they got to witness the signature move of the ‘Dubki King’ as he earned a point, leading the score to 40-41. Jung from the Pirates once again brought the score to an equal of 41-41 and easily raised the anticipation about who would win. In the last raid of the match, Hadi Oshtorak stole the show has he tackled down Siddharth Desai, a poetic ending with one scoring a tackle point and the other gaining a bonus point.
The match with Telugu Titans may have ended with a tie at 42-42, but Patna’s form is getting once again. After rising like a phoenix, the journey of Patna Pirates in season 7 of Pro Kabaddi Leagues still has a lot to offer. To catch more of this action and excitement, tune in for the coming matches of Patna Pirates.