Patna Pirates, UP Yoddhas register crucial wins

PUNE: Patna Pirates recorded its third win and second on the trot beating a lacklustre Gujarat Giants 34-28 in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 here on Monday.

The win enabled the three-time champion to jump up to eighth in the table with 23 points from nine games, while Gujarat has 25 points from nine matches. Right from the beginning, Patna held a stranglehold on Gujarat, effecting an ‘All Out’ in the 10th minute to race to a 10-5 lead. Patna raider Sachin Tanwar (13 raid points) yet again stole the show and stood out in the ‘Do or Die’ raids earning vital points.

The Gujarat defence was a shambles and was no match for the raiding prowess of Sachin and Rohit Gulia (7 raid points). Just before the first half got over, Gujarat received another jolt when Patna inflicted the second ‘All Out’ to take a substantial 21-11 lead.

At half-time, Patna was in a commanding position of 21-13. The script remained the same in the second half too with Patna continuing its dominance and Gujarat’s challenge fizzling out. In the post-match press conference, Gujarat coach Ram Mehar Singh ascribed the defeat to his team’s “ineffective” defence.

“If the defence has a poor day, it gets difficult to make an impact. It has a knock-on effect on the raiders as well as they are constantly under pressure trying to make up for the failure of the defenders. It is something we need to work on,” remarked Ram Mehar.

In the evening’s second match, UP Yoddhas was several notches above the bottom-placed Telugu Titans as it won by a comfortable margin of 19 points to climb to seventh. The final score was 43-24 in favour of Yoddhas, which now has 24 points from eight matches.

There seems to be no end to the Titans’ woes and its season continues to go from bad to worse. It slumped to an eighth defeat in nine matches and has only seven points so far. Just where and when Titans will rack up its second win remains a mystery.

Yoddhas oozed class in all facets reducing the game to a no contest by surging to a huge lead early on that left the Titans demoralized. Yoddhas raiding duo of Pardeep Narwal (9 raid points) and Surender Gill (13 raid points) were at their imperious best as they helped their team to a fourth win in eight matches.

RESULTS: Patna Pirates 34 bt Gujarat Giants 28; UP Yoddhas 43 bt Telugu Titans 24