The Patna Pirates rode the individual brilliance of Devank as they came from behind to defeat the Tamil Thalaivas in a thriller at the GMCB Indoor Stadium, in Gachibowli Hyderabad on Friday. Devank scored a whopping 25 points as the Patna Pirates won 42-40 to register their first win of the Pro Kabaddi League season.
The Puneri Paltan got back to winning ways with a 36-22 win over the Bengaluru Bulls.
The Thalaivas were out of the blocks at good pace with Narender Kandola picking up a flurry of points to start with.
For the Thalaivas, it was Kandola, Sachin and Nitesh Kumar leading the charge, while Devank was soldiering on for the Patna Pirates. Midway through the first have, the Thalaivas had a nine-point lead.
In the final minutes of the first half, Devank landed a super raid on the Thalaivas, and completed his Super 10. Similarly, Kandola registered his super 10 before the end of the first half, as the Thalaivas went into the break with the score at 23-18, in their favour.
After the break, Devank continued to chip away at the lead, and landed another super raid which brought the deficit down to two points. Devank, who had registered a whopping 22 points in the first 30 minutes of the game, caught the Thalaivas off guard.
The Pirates’ raider took was in the mood for more, and with five minutes to go in the game, he put his team in the lead.
Devank’s superb individual performance had rejuvenated the defensive unit, who did not allow the Tamil Thalaivas any scope to turn the contest around.
The Puneri Paltan began the game with a flurry of quick points early on. Mohit Goyat and captain Aslam Inamdar were doing some serious damage in the initial few minutes of the game. And before the first ten minutes of the game were up, Gaurav Khatri inflicted an all out on the Bulls, which then gave the Paltan a substantial lead.
As the first half wore on, the Paltan strengthened their stranglehold on the game with every member of the side picking up crucial points. In the first half, Inamdar and Goyat led the charge for the Paltan, who went into the break with the score at 18-11 in their favour.
After the break, the Paltan came out all guns blazing and extended their lead to 12 points within the first five minutes of the half. The Bulls were fighting hard with Pankaj, Ajinkya Pawar and Nitin Rawal looking to turn the tables on their opponents.
By now, the defending champions were holding strong, and even as the Bulls continued to chase the points, Paltan’s solid defensive unit were ensuring that matters would not go out of control. Pankaj Mohite and Goyat were leading the scoring charts for the Paltan, and had ample support from Khatri and Aman, in what was turning out to be an all-round performance. Eventually, the Paltan walked off the mat with a comprehensive win.
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