Bengaluru: Sachin produced an impressive performance to help Patna Pirates beat defending champions Bengal Warriors 38-29 in their Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 match here on Sunday.
Sachin scored a Super 10 (11 points) and was ably supported by Guman Singh (7 points) in the raiding unit.
The Pirates’ defence was in top form too with Mohammadreza Shadloui picking up a High 5. The win helped Patna Pirates move to the top of the points table. The three-time champions are now favourites to clinch a top-2 finish which will give them a direct entry into the Season 8 semi-finals.
Bengal Warriors had yet another poor day on the mat with both their defence and attack struggling. They will now need to win all the remaining matches of the season to stand a chance of making it to the eliminators.
Patna controlled the first half with a collective performance. Their raiders Sachin and Guman Singh found easy mistakes from the Bengal defenders to give an early lead.
Bengal raiders, including Maninder Singh, had no similar luck at the other end with Mohammadreza Shadloui manning the left corner.
Bengal staged a small comeback when Abozar Mighani and Manoj Gowda pulled off two tackles. But Patna were relentless in their pursuit for that ALL OUT and got it with two minutes remaining for half time.
The scores were 21-10 at the interval with Bengal in desperate need of inspiration.
Patna continued to dominate after the break. Their raiders slowed down the pace of the match while defenders ensured there were no slip-ups.
Bengal’s Maninder Singh struggled to make an impact as Patna left corner Mohammadreza Shadloui picked his High 5 (6th of the season).
Even the usually reliable Ran Singh in Bengal’s left corner was having an error-prone night. But despite the dominance, the Pirates failed to inflict another ALL OUT.
Patna had an 8-point lead with five minutes remaining in the match. Sachin clinched his Super 10 as Patna finally secured their second ALL OUT. That opened the lead to 11 points.
In another match, Pardeep Kumar’s last-minute heroics helped Gujarat Giants beat Bengaluru Bulls 40-36.
The raider scored a Super 10 (14 points), including four in the final minute, to give Gujarat a very important win in their battle to secure a playoff spot.