Hyderabad, Jan 20 (UNI) Patna Pirates beat UP Yoddhas for the second time in Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 after a 34-31 victory at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Friday night.
Ankit (5 points) and Babu M’s (4 points) defensive nous was the real difference for the Pirates on the day.
Patna Pirates kicked off strongly, and by the time Sandeep Kumar put in his multi-point raid with three minutes gone, UP Yoddhas were already in trouble. As has been the case through the season, Pardeep Narwal struggled through the half, registering just one point through it.
The defence really was the difference between the two sides, and Patna Pirates were doing better with it. They inflicted the first All-Out of the game in the sixth minute to take a 11-4 lead and kept up the pressure to go into the break leading by 6 points.
UP Yoddhas defensive struggles continued well into the second half and at one point, Patna Pirates had streaked to a 10-point lead. A Super Tackle by Hitesh staved off a second All-Out and kept them in the game with the final quarter of the match to go.
The two defenders of UP Yoddhas’ defence put on a prolonged resistance in a brilliant final quarter performance with Anil Kumar getting successful raids in Do–or-Die raid moments. In a twist, they even clawed back a lot of the lead in the final minute of the game.
However, Pardeep Narwal’s error of judgement on UP Yoddhas’ final raid, with barely 20 seconds left, blew their chance of an extraordinary comeback as Patna Pirates edged to a three point victory.
