Pro Kabbadi League: Patna Pirates kick off title defence with emphatic win

Defending champions Patna Pirates kicked off their Pro Kabbadi League campaign on a winning note as they brushed aside Puneri Paltan 30-24 in their opening match here on Monday.

Looking to record a third successive win, the impressive Puneri Paltan were brought down to earth by Patna Pirates.

Surjeet Singh scored seven raid points and Fazel Atrachali marshaled the defence impecabbly as Patna Pirates produced an excellent all-round performance to record their first win of the fourth season of Pro Kabaddi League.

Puneri Paltan, who are standing at the top of the league with 11 points from three games, failed to maintain their winning momentum against the Patna Pirates.

For the Pirates, Surjeet scored four points with his first five raids. With less than two minutes to go, Pradeep Narwal came up with do-or-die raid and the Pirates followed it with an all out in the next minute to ensure they went into the break with a six point lead with the score 16-10. Ajay Thakur, who put in a marvelous performance against U Mumba on Sunday, started slowly as he couldn't score any point in the first half. Even Puneri Paltan skipper Manjeet Chhillar couldn't score a single point in the first half.

Chhillar and Puneri Paltan began the second half brightly. Pune skipper opened his account with his first tackle and raid in the second half. Nitin Tomar scored with a do-or-die raid in the sixth minute before Chhillar got another point with a tackle as Puneri reduced the deficit to a single point.

But the Pirates showed why they're defending champions and inflicted a super tackle and super raid in the next two minutes to restore their six-point lead to 22-16. With five minutes left on the clock, Nitin Tomar scored two bonus points as they cut Pirates's lead to two points.

Puneri Paltan's defence let them down as they missed several opportunities to force a super tackle. With less than four minutes to go, Pirates inflicted an all out to lead 29-21. Puneri Paltan salvaged a point in the last three minutes as they reduced the deficit to six points. But it was Patna Pirates who continued their unbeaten run over Puneri Paltan and produced a clinical performance to win the game 30-24.