Pro Kabaddi 2019, Patna Pirates vs Gujarat Fortune Giants: Pirates fall once again as the Giants clinch the battle
Gujarat Fortune Giants were desperate for a victory coming into Match No. 54 of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 7 after losing six consecutive matches. Gujarat's home leg performance was also barren as they lost all the battles in Ahmedabad, adding to their woes.
Three-time champions Patna Pirates were languishing at the bottom of the team leaderboard and needed to clinch the victory if they wanted a spot in the playoffs.
Read to find out how the repeat of PKL Season 5's finale unfolded on the last day of the Chennai leg at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium:
Record-breaker Pardeep Narwal started for the Pirates and returned with a beautiful steal. Opening the account for his squad in brilliant fashion, Rohit Gulia grabbed an efficient two-pointer.
A brilliant super raid by the smoldering Narwal handed the lead to Patna. Like a true one-many army, he inflicted the first all-out on the nemesis just under eight minutes.
The defense of Patna, which had looked shabby so far, also put in a good show as they sent the flying raiders of Gujarat off the mat in no time. On the other hand, the Giants clearly struggled, with no defense point after ten minutes into the face-off.
Pardeep was escorted to the bench after Gujarat's wonderful tackle but was instantly revived after Maghsoudlou's marvelous two-pointer. Like a lone Warrior, Rohit Gulia contributed 5 out of 8 of Gujarat's points until then.
Towards the end of the first half, Patna started making a bunch of unnecessary schoolboy errors, giving free points to the opponents. At half-time, the score 15-11 was tilted in Patna's direction.
As the second half commenced, Rohit performed a laudable kick on Monu and reduced Patna's strength to just three. Eventually, the former champions suffered their first all out of the night in the 23rd minute.
Patna, just like their previous match, started the second half in sloppy fashion. The Giants thus started catching up gradually and finally gained a three-point lead over the Men in Green.
A long-awaited super-tackle by Monu brought down the score difference to just two points, and also revived the crucial man, Pardeep. The Pirates claimed a pivotal review in the 32nd minute of the battle, which was deemed successful.
The result could have gone either way in this neck-to-neck affair. The Giants took a review in the 36th minute, which was declared unsuccessful, much to their disappointment. Coach Manpreet looked under immense stress, due to his team's rookie mistakes.
Yet another review for the 'Beasts from the East' turned unsuccessful, adding to their misery. In this extremely close battle, Gujarat Fortune Giants finally managed to clinch the encounter at the very end with the score 29-26.
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