In a match where the advantage fluctuated like a pendulum from one team to another, it was the UP Yoddha team that came out on top against Patna Pirates. While star raider Pardeep Narwal scored another super-10 for Patna, the collective efforts of Shrikant Jadhav, Surender Gill and Nitesh Kumar were more than enough for UP.
The first half saw Yoddha getting off to a blistering start as they registered a 15-5 lead over their opponents. But then began a brilliant fightback from the Patna team. First, the Pirates pulled off a super tackle of Shrikant Jadhav thanks to Monu. Then, a little later, Hadi Oshtorak pulled off another super tackle as the score became 16-9.
Another brace was scored by Patna, this time through a raid of Vikas Jaglan where he eliminated two players in the opposition half. Another two-point raid came later in the half, the star this time being 'Record-breaker' Narwal. The first half eventually ended with the score reading 16-12 and Pirates seemed in the ascendant.
The second half began with Pardeep eliminating the last remaining player to inflict an all-out. Patna were now in the lead 17-16. But a successful raid and tackle give the lead back to Yoddhas. Surender then went for the do-or-die raid and tried to score with a kick in the right corner but was tackled out by Vikas Jaglan.
Then, Pardeep had another one of his successful raids where he got two points. This was followed by a successful tackle as UP were reduced to three players. Pardeep nonchalantly went for another raid and tagged the player in the left corner to reduce Yoddha to just two men.
After a successful raid, they were back to three but still in trouble as Pardeep was in form. Gill was the only raider left for UP. Pardeep, meanwhile had a do-or-die raid to deal with. Amazingly, he fell prey to a super tackle. Scores were 22-22 and in the very next raid, Gill won a point to put his team in the lead again.
Worryingly for Patna, they were down to four men and didn't have Narwal on their side. Soon, another do-or-die raid came along for Patna and Jaglan was sent for it, he failed. The very next raid was a do-or-die raid for Yoddha and they succeeded thanks to Surender. The score was now 25-22 in UP's favour.
Soon, the remaining two players were also dealt with by Surender as another all-out got inflicted on Patna. UP now lead 29-23. Everything now depended on Pardeep for the Pirates. He scored two quick points after the all-out but a successful raid by Shrikant Jadhav where he eliminated two players halted Patna's nascent momentum.
Ankush's successful raid took the scoreline to 33-26. Once again, Pardeep went in to pull off a miracle but again, he failed. UP looked unstoppable with less than five minutes to go. Nothing was working for Patna as their raiders were faltering and defenders getting tagged easily. A timeout was taken with just over two minutes to go and the score was 36-26.
Substitute Mohammad Maghsoudlou was also successfully tackled when the right defenders left him with no option but to stand still and accept his fate. Only one player remained for Patna on-mat and he was easily eliminated to make the score 40-26.
Pardeep then went to raid and this time, with the match almost out of reach, actually succeeded in getting two points. But even the slimmest glimmer of hope for Pirates' fans was extinguished when he got tackled in the very next raid. The game was all over bar the shouting.
The eventual final score was 41-29 in UP's favour. Pardeep did manage to score 14 points but once again, he couldn't deliver in moments of extreme pressure, as he did in 2017 season. Yoddha had a better team effort as Jadhav scored a super-10 while Surender managed seven points and Nitesh five. This wasn't one of the close matches of the seventh season of Pro Kabaddi League.
