The limelight was deservingly hogged by Pune raider Pravin
Niwale who is growing in stature with every outing. The slightly built man with
his twinkle toes and deceptive hand touches scored nine points and was
instrumental in forcing an all-out which was confirmed through a video
referral. He kept his team in the hunt till the end. The half-time score of
13-20 for Pune was worrying as their prime raider Wazir Singh was caught time
and again. Wazir could hardly muster four raid points on the day but
contributed two catching points to make up some lost ground.
Things changed after the break as Patna had all its raiders warming the bench.
Pune gradually whittled down the lead to finally get an all-out and make it
24-25. But the winners aware of this kept themselves ahead with substitute
Gurvinder Singh getting a couple of bonus points. At the ‘final five’ stage- 35th minute
to be precise the situation was 29-26 in favour of the Pirates with Niwale
still troubling them no end. He got a touch on Sandeep Narwal to keep the
pressure but a bonus by Ravi Dalal and Wazir’s inability to pull out anything
special finally gave the Pirates a victory to keep their quest for a top finish
going.
At the post match press conference, stand-in captain Sandeep
Narwal was appreciative of the home support Patna Pirates have been getting.
“The support from the crowd here in Patna
has been fantastic and it has given us the confidence to build on our good
performances. We are looking to push ahead from here because the team is doing
very well and we want to continue this good run.”
Looking ahead to the final match tomorrow in the Patna leg, vs Bengal
Warriors, Sandeep was hopeful of a good showing. “They (Bengal Warriors) are a
good unit and they have pushed all the teams that they have played so far to
the line. We will not get carried away with these two victories that we have
earned at home. Each team has to be treated with respect and so we will
formulate our strategy based on their starting lineup tomorrow.”
MATCH 26 – PATNA
PIRATES VS PUNERI PALTAN
No.
|
Award
|
Player/Team
|
1
|
TVS BEST RAIDER OF THE MATCH
|
PRAVIN NIWALE (PUNERI PALTAN)
|
2
|
BAJAJ ELECTRICAL INSPIRING DEFENDER OF THE MATCH
|
AMIT HOODA (
|
3
|
|
PRAVIN NIWALE (PUNERI PALTAN)
|
4
|
VIP FRENCHIE BIG IMPRESSION PLAYER OF THE MATCH
|
RAVI DALAL (
|
5
|
DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY DUMDAAR ATOM AWARD
|
AMIT HOODA (
|
6
|
FLIPKART AUDIENCE KI WISH PLAYER OF THE MATCH
|
SANDEEP NARWAL (
|
Press release
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