PKL 8: Patna Pirates, Dabang Delhi qualify for final

Both teams played brilliantly in the semi-finals.

A collective performance led by star defender Mohammadreza Shadloui helped three-time champions Patna Pirates beat U.P. Yoddha 38-27 to book a spot in the final of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 8. Shadloui and Sunil picked up High 5s for Patna while at the other end raiders Sachin (7 points) and Guman Singh (8 points) ensured the U.P. defenders had a difficult night.

U.P. Yoddha's Pardeep Narwal had a quiet outing with just 4 points in the entire match. In fact, it was substitute Shrikant Jadhav who performed best for U.P. Yoddha in attack with 10 points (including 2 for a Super Tackle). Patna will play the final on Friday (25 February).

Patna started on the front foot with their star defender Mohammadreza Shadloui looking in red-hot form. The raiding duo of Sachin and Guman Singh attacked at the other end and even Ashu Singh’s Super Tackle wasn’t enough to prevent an ALL OUT in the 10th minute. 

Patna continued to dominate the proceedings with Prashanth Kumar Rai also joining in the attack with important touchpoints. Pardeep Narwal and Surender Gill had no answers to Patna’s high intensity defending. Once again Ashu Singh produced a Super Tackle on Sachin but that could not stop the Pirates from getting their second ALL OUT in the 17th minute to open a 14-point lead. Interestingly, all the 7 players of Patna had contributed with at least 1 point while Pardeep Narwal was yet to get off his mark. The “record breaker” did get two points in the final minutes of the first half but Patna maintained the healthy lead at the interval (23-9).

The Pirates continued to control the mat in the early minutes of the second half. Pardeep and Surender struggled to find errors in the Patna defence while the likes of Guman and Sachin kept the Yoddha defenders guessing. Shrikant Jadhav’s Super Tackle in the 5th minute after the restart gave U.P. a glimmer of hope but there was no stopping the Pirates. The three-time champions cleared all the Yoddha men on the mat with another ALL OUT with 11 minutes remaining to open a 17-point lead.

Mohammadreza Shadloui picked his High 5 as Patna showed no signs of taking their foot off the pedal. Coach Ram Mehar Singh wanted his side to slow down the pace of the match but Yoddha’s substitute raider Shrikant Jadhav kept them busy. He became the lead raider for U.P. in their desperate attempt to make a comeback. They reduced Patna’s lead to 12 points with 5 minutes remaining. 

U.P. Yoddha inflicted an ALL OUT with under 3 minutes remaining to further reduce Patna’s lead to 7 points. But Patna proved their mettle with a stunning tackle on Pardeep Narwal (by substitute Monu). Sachin then followed it up with an important raid point. They made it an 11-point lead with a minute remaining and ensured there were no slip-ups in the dying seconds to enter the final.

Delhi outshine Bengaluru

Dabang Delhi K.C. made it two finals in two consecutive seasons by beating Bengaluru Bulls 40-35 in the second semi-final of PKL Season 8. Naveen Kumar picked a Super 10 (14 points) as Delhi’s experienced stars made it a night to remember by clinching a comeback win. Pawan Sehrawat (18 points) gave the Bulls a fast start, but Delhi secured important ALL OUTs at crucial points of the game to turn it in their favour. Dabang will now play Patna Pirates in the final on Friday (25 February).

The Bulls started the match brightly with Pawan Sehrawat looking in good form. The star raider has a playoff average of over 14 raid points, and he made his intentions to attack clear right from the first whistle. But Dabang Delhi slowly got back into the game with Naveen Kumar also finding some errors in the Bulls' defence. The experienced Delhi defence controlled the pace of the match and despite Pawan’s best attempts inflicted an ALL OUT in the 8th minute to open a 3-point lead.

The Bulls immediately levelled the score thanks to a multi-point raid by Pawan Sehrawat. He secured his Super 10 by the 12th minute as the teams slowed down the attacks. Delhi’s Vijay also got into the act with a few crucial points. The scores were level at 14-14 with 5 minutes remaining in the first half. Bulls’ raider Chandran Ranjit had to be substituted after he was on the receiving end of a head collision with Delhi’s Joginder Narwal. At half time, the scores were 17-16 with the Bulls in a narrow lead.

The Bulls could not convert the man advantage into an ALL OUT in the early minutes of the second half. Krishan’s Super Tackle gave Delhi the momentum and they backed it up by sending the Bulls’ raiders to the bench. Mahender’s Super Tackle for Bengaluru in the 6th minute after the interval gave them a chance to stage a comeback.

But Delhi raider Neeraj Narwal’s 3-point Super Raid with 13 minutes remaining once again changed the balance of the match. Dabang inflicted their second ALL OUT with 11 minutes still on the clock to open a 6-point lead. 

Naveen Kumar’s 3-point Super Raid and Manjeet Chhillar’s solid ankle hold on Pawan Sehrawat ensured Delhi had a 7-point gap with 5 minutes left in the semifinal. Naveen picked his Super 10 as Delhi kept their calm in the final minutes despite high pressure from the Bengaluru raiding duo of Bharat and Pawan. Pawan made a blunder by committing an unsuccessful tackle on Naveen in the last minute. Naveen picked up easy points to secure a 5-point win for Delhi and a place in the final.

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