Pro Kabaddi League Season 5: Bengal Warriors' Surjeet Singh gives amazing explanation for Pardeep Narwals dominance
While the match did get close at the fag end, the fact remains - Patna Pirates dominated Bengal Warriors from the start. For large parts of the game, they enjoyed a handsome lead of 10 plus points.
We've now run out of superlatives to describe Pardeep Narwal. Once again, Patna's star raider put the opposition to the sword with a match winning performance. Thus securing Patna's place in the final against Gujarat Fortunegiants.
In what can only be described as rare, Narwal attempted a mind boggling 36 raids and scored 23 points. On paper, the returns may seem a tad low given the high standards he sets for himself. But Pardeep was calm and collective in his approach, slowing down the game as and when he he needed to.
Bengal captain, Surjeet Singh was tasked with keeping Pardeep quiet. It was never going to be easy. Surjeet tried every single trick and attempted every possible tactic to keep Narwal in check. None of it worked. Simply put, there was no stopping him. Post the match, Singh explained why teams find it hard to pin down the best raider in the world.
"Look, there are two types of raiders. One of them happens to be him, you can tackle him how many times you want but he still keeps playing in the same way," said the Bengal captain.
"Then there are the others who get nervous after getting tackles twice or thrice. Pardeep Narwal's quality is that he will continue to attack whatever happens," he added.
Bengal's Jang Kun Lee surprisingly was on the bench at the start of the game. He did come on in the second half but attempted just one raid before he was called back to the bench. Surjeet revealed that Lee wasn't in shape to play such an important game.
"He is suffering from a back injury, it's quite serious. We kept him out and wanted to use him only if it was extremely necessary. We had decided we will not use him for more than one raid and that is exactly what happened," he explained.
Although they came out second best, Bengal Warriors can walk off with their head held high. They were the second most successful side among all the teams in the group stage.
The Warriors displayed consistency and played some great kabaddi, much to the surprise of the fans and critics. Little did anyone expect they would come so far.