Double defending champions Patna Pirates and Haryana Steelers secured contrasting wins as the Inter-Zone Challenge week of the Pro Kabaddi League commenced here.
Haryana snapped leaders Bengal Warriors’ three-match winning streak in a home run with a 36-29 win while Pirates rode on Pradeep Narwal’s menacing raids to rout a depleted Jaipur Pink Panthers 47-21 in a lopsided contest.
Wazeer Singh (11 raid points), Surjeet Singh (8) and Mohit Chillar (4) fashioned Haryana’s win after they led 19-11 at the break. Bengal had a better second half and put pressure on Haryana with Maninder Singh (14) putting up a fine show but all his efforts went in vain.
Earlier piling on the points for Pirates, Narwal became the fastest to reach 100 raid points in PKL season five to give their side a ballistic start.
He finished the match with 21 raid points, exactly the same points their opponents manage summing up the plight for the depleted Panthers.
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Pirates have been at their menacing best in the attack with ‘Dubki King’ Narwal, Monu Goyat (10) and Vinod Kumar, all shining for them to sign off the Kolkata leg on a high.
{{/usCountry}}Pirates have been at their menacing best in the attack with ‘Dubki King’ Narwal, Monu Goyat (10) and Vinod Kumar, all shining for them to sign off the Kolkata leg on a high.
{{/usCountry}}Pirates now jumped to second place with 33 points from nine matches in Zone B, while Panthers remained on 28 from nine outings in Zone A.
Their defence may have looked weak but they were not tested much against a depleted Panthers for their seventh win over Panthers from 11 matches overall.
Panthers, who defeated Zone A leaders Gujarat Fortune giants in their previous outing here, cut a sorry figure in front of their star Bollywood owner Abhishek Bachchan.
Narwal reached the 100 milestone in style with a brilliant super raid and reduced their opponents to one man in the sixth minute for a 8-4 lead as it was a walk on the mat for Pirates.
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In the absence of their experienced duo of regular captain Manjeet Chillar who’s been sidelined because of an injury and Jasvir Singh (niggle), Panthers looked terribly out of sorts.
Veteran Navneet Gautam was called upon to lead the side but they hardly troubled the two-time champions.
In their desperate bid to come back, Pawan Kumar attempted a do-or-die raid but only to succumb to a resolute defence as Panthers trailed 5-14 with after eight minutes.
Such was Pirates’ domination that they kept Pantheres in one digit as long as two minutes in the second-half. With a commanding 19-9 lead at half-time Panthers virtually sealed the match and Narwal took full advantage of the young squad.
Narwal with another super raid inflicted a third allout on Panthers to make it 37-14 for Pirates in the 29th minute and it was about time that they sealed the issue.