PKL 2018, Patna Pirates v Gujarat Fortunegiants: Poor defence puts Patna's playoff hopes in dismay
A crucial tie took place in the Kolkata leg of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 6 as the defending champions Patna Pirates faced off against the runners-up from last year, Gujarat Fortunegiants in an inter-zone wildcard match.
The two sides were playing their final match of the league stage but the stakes were high for the Patna Pirates. Patna had to get a win or at least a draw from the encounter to seal their spot in the final three playoff teams from the Zone B. A loss would open up the chance for UP Yoddha to win and go through ahead of them. Gujarat Fortunegiants, on the other hand, had cemented their top spot in the Zone A standings and decided to test a couple of their bench players tonight ahead of the Qualifier 1 match next week.
The first half of the match began with the Patna Pirates taking an early lead in the match courtesy a couple of strong raids from Pardeep Narwal. However, Rohit Gulia kept the scoreboard ticking for the Gujarat Fortunegiants as they crept back closing down the deficit. The Gujarat defence did well towards the end of the half to get a Super Tackle on Pardeep Narwal and went into a slight lead. The half ended with the scoreboard at 13-12 in favour of the Gujarat Fortunegiants.
The second half of the match saw the Gujarat side maintain their lead throughout as strong defence from Sunil Kumar and Lalit Chaudhary kept the Patna raiders in check. Pardeep Narwal got his Super 10 but was kept on the bench for a long time. Two Super Tackles on the star man towards the end of the match got Gujarat the win in the end. At the end of the final whistle, the scoreboard read 37-29 in favour of the Gujarat Fortunegiants.
Patna Pirates
Pardeep Narwal - (7.5/10)
The Patna Pirates skipper was in fine form in the first half scoring seven points including a couple of two-point raids and was tackled just once. He had a comparatively quiet second half spending a lot of time on the bench but got his Super 10 on the night.
Manjeet - (3/10)
The lanky raider had a tough time raiding tonight as he was tackled three times in the first half itself and just had one tackle point. He was substituted in the second half to be replaced by Tushar Patil.
Vijay - (3/10)
Vijay operated as the third raider tonight for the Pirates but was mostly used for the empty raids. He picked up one touch point in the second half of the match.
Vikas Jaglan - (5/10)
The all-rounder Vikas Jaglan did well in both attack and defence picking up a couple of points in the first half. He finished with a couple of raid points and three tackle points.
Ravinder Kumar - (2/10)
The right corner Ravinder Kumar was highly prone to errors with his tackle attempts and conceded a couple of easy raid points before being replaced by Vijay Kumar towards the end of the first half.
Jaideep - (2/10)
Jaideep was poor tonight for the Patna Pirates failing with his timing on tackles and was benched at the end of the half.
Vikas Kale - (2/10)
Another Patna defender who was guilty of committing errors on the mat was Vikas Kale and he was replaced by Manish after failing to get a tackling point.
Substitutes
Manish - (3.5/10)
The cover defender came on in the second half and picked up one tackle point with a strong thigh hold on Rohit Gulia.
Tushar Patil - (5/10)
The raider came on in the second half to replace Manjeet and did well to pick up five raid points for Patna at a time when Pardeep Narwal was tackled out.
Vijay Kumar - (3/10)
The right corner defender scored one tackle point in the second half with an ankle hold after coming on to replace Ravinder Kumar.