PKL 2019 Patna Pirates Vs Bengaluru Bulls Report: Reigning champions Bengaluru Bulls begin their campaign after scraping through to a 34-32 win against Patna Pirates
After seeing an extremely one-sided encounter begin the seventh season of Pro Kabaddi League, the showpiece league’s ardent supporters were immediately after treated to a completely opposing encounter. An edge of the seat thriller, one which persistently changed hands eventually swung in the Bulls favour who scripted an incredible comeback to win their league’s opener with a 34-32 win.
BLR vs PAT Star Performers
Patna Pirates: Pardeep Narwal- Super 10
Bengaluru Bulls: Pawan Sehrawat- 9 points
How The Match Shaped Out
An edge of the seat thriller, the second match from the first day of the latest edition of Pro Kabaddi League was a testament to the competitive nature of kabaddi we are going to be indulged in this season. Widely touted to be the best ever season of the marquee league, Bengaluru Bulls and Patna Pirates doled out a humdinger of a match, one which saw a reinvigorated Bengaluru Bulls in the second half show exactly why they are champions.
Completely overhauling their side after ending fourth in Zone B in PKL 2018, for Patna Pirates their chances of winning this encounter rested massively on Dubki king Pardeep Narwal. And he didn’t disappoint either, registering a Super 10 in his first match itself, one which began with him pulling off a successful raid in the first minute of the match itself to give his side a 2-0 lead.
However it became clearly apparent that this was going to be a match that would go down to the last minute as the Bulls hit back immediately with some stringent defending to take a 5-3 lead before Pawan Sehrawat was tackled by Hadi Oshtorak proceeded by a successful raid by Pardeep Narwal to see the Pirates restore parity at 6-6.
The match eventually opened up after a scrumptious bit of play that saw the Pirates effect the first all out of the encounter to earn two vital points that saw them put some gap between their opponents at 14-11. Coming back from a super tackle on Pardeep Narwal by Ashish Sangwan, both Pawan Sehrawat and Banty were tackled to see the Bulls entire side be ruled out of the mat.
And from there on the Pirates dominated the match, building on the momentum garnered by that vital bit of development with the Bulls failing to register points from there on. Rohit Kumar was especially abysmal and if it hadn’t been for Pawan Sherawat’s brilliant raiding abilities as he ousted both Vikas Jaglan and Neeraj Kumar to end the first half on a strong note for the Bulls despite them facing a deficit.
The second half saw the match completely swing on its head through with the Pirates registering three points consecutively with Rohit Kumar sent back along with Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsoudlou and Pardeep Narwal both registering successful raids to see the side go on a compelling spree as they ran into a 20-13 lead.
From there on though the Bulls showed why they are the reigning champions, imbedding a spectacular brand of kabaddi as they refused to be deterred by the woeful performance in the beginning of the second half, Pawan Sehrawat was dauntless in the attacking segment and perfectly complimented by Mahender Singh at the back with the player pulling off a super tackle on Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsoudlou to see the match back level at 24-24.
The topsy-turvy encounter finally switched in the Bulls favour for the last time with Pawan Sehrawat winning two consecutive raid points and Singh capitalising on the Pirates lack of intent. Surprisingly the Pirates lack of incisive in the final closing minutes of the match saw them go too far behind in the match, one that was fully sealed for the Bulls after Vikas Jaglan was ousted from the match to see the Bulls run out time with an empty raid and win the encounter 34-32.
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