Pro Kabaddi League 2019 | Match 26: Patna Pirates vs Puneri Paltan Review | 4th August
Home team Patna Pirates lost their very first match of the home-leg against the Jaipur Pink Panthers and needed to redeem themselves. On the other hand, Anup Kumar's Puneri Paltan had not won a single match yet in Pro Kabaddi 2019 and were desperate for a victory.
Read to find out how the match against Patna Pirates' Pardeep Narwal and Puneri Paltan's Girish Ernak proceeded at the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna.
Starting 7s
Patna Pirates: Pardeep Narwal, Jang Kun Lee, Mohammad Esmaeil, Neeraj Kumar, Jaideep, Hadi Oshtorak, Vikas Jaglan
Puneri Paltan: PO Surjeet Singh, Amit Kumar, Manjeet, Pawan Kumar Kadian, Shubham Shinde, Sanket Sawant, Girish Maruti Ernak
Toss
Puneri Paltan won the toss and chose the court.
Pardeep Narwal went for the first raid and was immediately sent off the mat by Sanket Sawant as he produced a brilliant block. Manjeet, who made an excellent debut for the Pirates last season, fished out a bonus, scoring the first raid point for the Paltan.
Without a single point, the Pirates eventually faced an all-out in the seventh minute of the face-off. They literally failed to make a mark as the the Paltan raced away to a massive lead.
Monu brought about the first point for the Pirates in the ninth minute of the contest. That was a good start to Patna's resurgence as Pardeep bagged three points for his side in under two minutes, eventually inflicting an all-out on the Puneri Paltan, bringing the score difference to a mere five points.
The first half ended with the score 10-20 in favor of the Puneri Paltan. Pawan Kadian went for Pune's first raid as the first half commenced and returned empty-handed. Jang Kun Lee was kept quiet throughout the face-off by Pune's defense.
Pardeep became the first player to score a super raid in the match, as the score read 21-14, but later on, was caught by Pune's defense as was sent to the bench. With ten minutes remaining in the clash, Patna had a score difference of nine points to chase.
Another morale-squashing all-out for the Pirates in the sixth minute of the battle saw them slip into deeper trouble, as they faced a 16-point deficit with the score reading 16-32 in favor of Pune. With a comfortable lead, Pune kept on scoring points and continually piled pressure on the hosts.
It was a clear victory for Puneri Paltan, as they defeated the home team Patna Pirates to win their first match of the season with a scoreline of 41-20. Both the departments played in perfect alignment which dictated Pune's dominance.
On the other hand, this brought about the Pirates second loss of their home leg. No raider stood up to the expectations and the defense was lousy throughout. They will need to forget the loss and come back stronger against the Haryana Steelers in their next match.