Patna Pirates and Tamil Thalaivas played out a 30-30 enthralling tie in the 36th match of the Pro Kabaddi League at the Sheraton Grand Convention Centre on Thursday. The two teams came into this encounter on the back of good form. The Patna Pirates had registered a hat-trick of victories while Tamil Thalaivas were unbeaten in the last four matches.
Monu Goyat began on a positive note with a bonus point in the first raid of the match. There was nothing to separate the two franchises, in the first 10 minutes with the score tied at 5-5. It was expected to be a match that was decided on how the defensive units of both the teams perform and it turned out to be exactly like how it was anticipated.
The raiders didn’t get an inch as the Surjeet Singh-led defense and the Prasanth Kumar-led defense were tight in their respective tackling attempts. However, Monu Goyat had a Midas touch and that helped the Pirates break into the lead. Monu ended the half with 7 points from 8 raids in the first half. Skipper Prasanth aided him with 3 raid points till the half-time whistle.
Patna’s strength this season has been the involvement of raiders like Sachin Tanwar, Prasanth Kumar, and Monu Goyat in the defense and augured well for the Pirates today. Ajinkya Pawar, who has been a super-sub for the Thalaivas, was brought into the game earlier than usual and he chipped in with a couple of points before the all-out.
Patna Pirates had a tackle success rate of 32%
Ajinkya Pawar was tackled by Monu Goyat and that was the final nail in the coffin as the Pirates stretched their lead to 10-17 after they inflicted an all-out on the blue outfit. The first half ended with an 18-12 lead in favor of the most successful side of the Pro Kabaddi League.
Ajinkya Pawar started off the second half with a successful raid but Prasanth followed it up with a 2-point lead for the Pirates. Pawar continued his stellar run in the second half and completed his super 10 in the 33rd minute of the match after coming on in the 14th minute. He single-handedly inflicted an all-out on the Pirates and grabbed a slender lead of one point over for the Tamil Thalaivas as the score read 23-22.
After all the Patna Pirates players were revived, Ajinkya Pawar scored another couple of points and was unstoppable. Monu Goyat had contrasting fortunes in the second half and picked up only a solitary point after the half-time whistle.
With less than 5 minutes to go, the two teams were 28-27 as the Thalaivas held the lead. The momentum was clearly with the Thalaivas who had sparked a turnaround in the second half. The two teams continued to be neck and neck till the 38th minute but Patna had the lead with 100 seconds to go in the match. Athul MS grabbed a raid point as the Patna defender unsuccessfully attempted a dash. The score was 30-30 and after a couple of empty raids, the match ended in a tie.
Patna Pirates will face Gujarat Giants in the last of the three matches on Saturday at 9:30 pm while the Tamil Thalaivas will lock horns with Haryana Steelers on Monday at 7:30 pm.