Pradeep Narwal celebrates after scoring a point against Patna Pirates in PKL 2021.
UP Yoddha beat Patna Pirates 36-35 in the final leg of the match in their Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) competition here on Saturday. Patna thought they managed to come back into a tie in the final leg of the match when they faced Surendra Gill, but the UP raider ensured that they got a bonus point in the process to maintain a one-point lead. .
Pradeep Narwal, a former raider from Patna, was the highest scorer for UP Yoddha with 12 points. As expected, Pradeep Narwal scored two bonus points in his first two raids and then two bonus points with a two-point raid. Patna struggled in the opening round with their raiders Monu Goyat and Prashant Kumar Rai struggling.
Three-time champions Patna Pirates had to sweat it out with just two men on the mat in a tree-point super raid by UP Yoddha’s Shrikant Jadhav in the 10th minute. But their all-rounder Sachin scored a crucial raid point and then made a super tackle.
Patna then made a remarkable comeback with four super tackles affecting Mohammadreza Chianeh and Sajin. The first half ended with Patna leading 20-12, with both sides failing to get all outs.
In the second half, both the teams completed super tackles and the defenders took charge of the match. But a few mistakes from the men on the green allowed UP to take a narrow three-point lead in the 10th minute of the second half to secure the first all out of the game.
The UP team maintained the lead till the last few minutes due to some mistakes made by the Patna defence. The Pirates, however, made it a one-point game, with UP going through a do-or-die raid in the final leg of the match. But Surendra Gill showed great presence to pick up a bonus point and win the match for UP Yoddha.
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