Chennai: Bengal Warriors came close towards the end but failed to sink Patna Pirates’ ship as they went down 47-44 in the second qualifier of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on Thursday.
With this win Patna qualified for the third straight time for Pro Kabaddi League’s title clash.
Patna will face Gujarat Fortunegiants in the title clash on Saturday.
In the match where both the teams had a good set of raiders it was Pardeep Narwal again who scored most of the points — 23 points in all.
For Bengal, Maninder Singh scored 17 while Deepak Narwal snapped up 10 but that did not help Bengal from blushes.
Even as Bengal fought bravely in the last five minutes, forcing ‘all out’ on Patna but the points gap was too much to be bridged in the remaining time.
“We did not start well and from there it became a bit difficult for us. We fought well in the second half but mistakes in the early half cost us the match,” said Bengal Warriors captainSurjeet Singh.
As expected, the match started with Pardeep Narwal collecting three touch points plus two all out points in only his second raid that helped the Pirates open the game with a crucial 9-1 lead.
Then Bengal came out with a patient approach as the pace of the game slowed down and most of the points came on ‘third raid’.
There was nothing to worry for Patna as they held an upper hand with the score reading 18-8 at the end of the 15th minute.
The Teams went into half time with Patna leading 21-12.
The match picked up pace after resumptuion as Shrikant Tewthia came out with a brilliant raid to collect bonus points for Bengal.
With only three men on the mat, Bengal failed to hold Narwal and were all out in the 24th minute of the match with the score reading 28-17.
With a 11 point lead, Patna Pitrates sailed smoothly and played the remaining 16 minutes with ease.
Bengal captain Surjeet Singh was the vital cog in the Warriors’ defence and though he stayed on the mat till the end, his exhuberent failed to lift Bengal to the desired height.
Results: Qualifier 2:
Patna Pirates 47 (Pardeep Narwal 23, Vijay 4, Monu Goyat 4, Vishal Mane 3) bt Bengal Warriors 44 (Maninder Singh 17, Deepak Narwal 10, Ran Singh 5, Shrikant Tewthia 3)
Top raider: Pardeep Narwal (Patna Pirates)
Top defender: Vishal Mane (Patna Pirates)
We lost the encounter in the first five minutes. From there onwards the boys came close in the end but could not cross the victory line.
— Jagdish Kumble
(Bengal Warriors Coach)
A few mistakes happened in the last few minutes of the game due to which the match got so close. Otherwise everything went right for us.
— Ram Mehar Singh
(Patna Pirates Coach)