Patna Pirates handed Telugu Titans their fifth straight defeat with a 43-36 win in the Pro Kabaddi league in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Pirates’ star raider Pardeep Narwal led the charge with 12 points, supported by Monu Goyat who scored 10. Although Rahul Chaudhari tried to bring his team back in the game scoring 12 points for the Titans, it wasn’t enough as the Pirates ran out comfortable winners.
It was Pirates’ second win over Titans in the ongoing edition and they continued the domination with an all-round display. In what was the last match of the Hyderabad leg, the Titans could not rise to the occasion and slumped to yet another defeat, leaving them a lot to do in the league.
Pirates jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first two minutes as both Narwal and Goyat scored raid points. Nilesh Salunke opened Titans’ account in the third minute as they trailed 1- 3. It was an even contest for the first seven minutes as both teams were tied at 6-6.
Salunke scored with a two-point raid in the 12th minute to level the game at 12-12. With four minutes left in the first half, Narwal scored more points as Pirates led 19-15. The team from Patna ended the first half leading 23-16.
The second half saw the Pirates completely dominate the proceedings. They scored 11 points in a row as Titans could muster just a single point. Chaudhari was the sole contributor for Titans and kept on scoring points. Rakesh Kumar was solid at the back but the defence couldn’t contain either Goyat or Narwal.
With less than five minutes left on the clock, the Pirates had an unassailable 14-point lead. Titans had to limit the damage and reduce the deficit to seven points. Chaudhari’s persistence paid off and Titans reduced the gap to seven as they lost 36-43.
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