Patna Pirates overwhelmed Puneri Paltan with a 40-21 scoreline, Friday, to enter their first-ever Pro Kabaddi League final. Aggression, confidence and determination remained the key to their emphatic win over the Pune side in the semifinal. Patna will now face U Mumba in the final, after the defending champions beat Bengal Warriors 41-29 in the second semifinal.
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From the beginning, it was all out attack from the Pirates. Pardeep Narwal got the first point of the match for Patna Pirates but Deepak Hooda got one point back for Puneri Paltan in the following raid. It looked like Paltan were prepared for dishing a close fight but it wasn't to be.
The Pune defence, with Jasmer Gulia and Manjeet Chhillar, did give a good showing initially to make the scoreline read 3-3, but following that, it were all Patna Pirates at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium in New Delhi.
Rohit Kumar got the first raid points of the evening for the Pirates as well as two touch points. Pardeep Narwal then stepped up to the fore once more and his tenacity to beat four defenders and get the six-point raid was praised by everyone present in the stadium.
It was 21-4 by 13 minutes of the first half. Left corner man Sunil didn't give any time and room to an experienced customer like Ajay Thakur of Puneri Paltan as well.
Patna Pirates led 25-7 in the break.
Deepak Hooda and Manjeet Chhillar got a good start for Puneri Paltan at the start of the second half as they quickly got on to 25-12 by the 25th minute mark. Paltan upped their ante as they recorded an 'All Out' in the next two minutes to take the score to 27-17.
The Pirates however were never really keen on giving the game away. Pardeep Narwal inflicted Pune their third All Out in the 34th minute to make the scoreline 37-19 and by then, it was all over.
Puneri Paltan skipper Manjeet Chhillar experienced a very frustrating day in office but nevertheless he became the only player in the season three of Pro Kabaddi to reach the total of 100 points mark.
Patna Pirates will take on U Mumba in the Pro Kabaddi League 2016 final, Saturday.
