Hyderabad: The Patna Pirates beat the UP Yoddhas for the second time in the PKL season 10 with a 34-31 victory at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium today. Ankit (5 points) and M Babu (4 points) defensive nous was the real difference for the Pirates on the day.
The Patna Pirates kicked off strongly, and by the time Sandeep Kumar put in his multi-point raid with 3 minutes gone, the U.P. Yoddhas were already in trouble. AS has been the case through the season Pardeep Narwal struggled through the half registering just one point through it.
The defence really was the difference between the two sides, and the Patna Pirates were doing better with it. They inflicted the first ALL OUT in the sixth minute of the game to take a 11-4 lead. They kept up their pressure and went into the break leading by 6 at the break.
The U.P. Yoddhas defensive struggles continued well into the second half and at one point the Patna Pirates had streaked to a 10 point lead. A SUPER TACKLE by Hitesh staved off a second all out and kept them in the game with the final quarter of the game to go.
The two defenders of the U.P. Yoddhas defence put on a prolonged resistance in a brilliant final quarter performance, Anil Kumar getting successful raids in DO OR DIE moments. In a twist, they even clawed back a lot of the lead in the final minute of the game. Narwal’s error of judgement on the Uu.p. Yoddhas final raid, with barely 20 seconds left blew their chance of an extraordinary comeback though, as the Patna Pirates edged to a three point victory.
