PKL 2018 highlights: Pardeep Narwal's Patna Pirates beat UP Yoddha 43-37

In the first match of Day 8, Patna Pirates overcame a sluggish start to record a comfortable 43-37 victory over UP Yoddha in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL 2018) season six on Sunday. Pardeep Narwal scored 14 points to be the star raider once again but it was the Patna defence that laid down the foundations of this win. Shrikant Jadhav got 17 points for UP Yoddha and Rishank Devadiga scored 11 but their efforts went in vain. Rishank Devadia scored with two consecutive raids as UP Yoddha led 3-1 after three minutes. UP Yoddha sent Pardeep Narwal to the bench in the fourth minute and reduced Patna Pirates to just four men. Patna Pirates averted an all-out in the fifth minute as they forced a super tackle to trail 3-6. Another super tackle in the 8th minute by Patna Pirates levelled the match at 7-7.

Pardeep opened his account to give Patna Pirates the lead for the first time in the match in the 9th minute. Manjeet scored with a two-point raid in the 13th minute to give Patna Pirates an 11-9 lead. In the 14th minute, Patna Pirates inflicted the first all out of the match to lead 16-10. A super raid right at the stroke of half time by Shreekant got UP Yoddha back in the match as they trailed 17-19. Deepak Narwal came up with a super raid as Patna Pirates avoided an all out in the 22nd minute and led 23-18. Shrikant Jadhav responded with a super raid of his own as UP Yoddha forced inflicted an all out to level the match at 24-24 in the 24th minute. Pardeep scored with a super raid in the 27th minute as Patna led 29-26.

In the last ten minutes of the match, Devadiga tried to get UP back in the match with a slew of raid points. With just over three minutes left, Patna Pirates led 39-34. Deepak scored a raid point in the 39th minute as Patna Pirates led 42-35 and wrapped up the match in the next minute with a tackle point.

Puneri Paltan climbed to the top of Zone A  points table in Vivo Pro Kabaddi Season VI with a resounding 45-27 win over Haryana Steelers. Haryana Steelers’ poor defensive performance was the main reason for their third consecutive defeat. Vikas Kandola put a solid all-round performance for Haryana Steelers and scored 11 points. Nitin Tomar got 10 points whereas Rajesh Mondal chipped in with 8 points to lead Puneri paltan to a comfortable win. 

It was an evenly contested affair in the first few minutes of the match as both teams were tied at 5-5 after seven minutes. Puneri Paltan then shifted gears with Nitin Tomar getting into the act. Tomar scored three points in two raids as Puneri Paltan inflicted an all out to lead 13-7 after 12 minutes.