PKL 2017: Pardeep Narwal stars in Patna Pirates' win over Bengaluru Bulls

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Ranchi, Sep 20: Five-star raider Pardeep Narwal shined once again as defending champions Patna Pirates defeated Bengaluru Bulls 36-32 in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) 2017 at the Harivansh Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium in Ranchi on Tuesday.

Raider Monu Goyat top-scored for the Pirates with 12 points, while Narwal became the first player to reach 200 points in Season 5 of Pro Kabaddi.

Pirates scored 19 points in the first half and 17 in the second. Trailing by six points at the end of the first half, Bulls showed a tremendous comeback and scored 21 points but that wasn't enough for them to win the match.

The Pirates started the game in a confident mood with Narwal and Goyat both looking sharp on the mat. They enforced the first All-Out on Bengaluru in the 11th minute to take a 13-5 lead as well as control of the match.

Bengaluru's defence was struggling to cope with Patna's attack but Sunil Jaipal managed to pull off a successful tackle in the 14th minute to reduce the deficit to 15-8. However, Goyat was having a field day in attack as well as defence and ensured that Patna ended the half strongly to take a 19-11 lead into the break.

The second period got underway with the teams trading blows early on before a Narwal super raid in the 26th minute set up another All-Out on Bengaluru a minute later. With a 29-15 lead to rest on, the Pirates went about their business effortlessly to close out the game.

The final quarter of the contest saw Bengaluru skipper Rohit Kumar, in particular, doing his best for the team as he brought up his Super 10 to herald in an All-Out on Patna late in the game.

Rohit Kumar bagged 14 points (12 in raids, 2 in tackles) to emerge as the top scorer of the match, but he couldn't rescue his team.

However, with just two minutes left on the clock, Patna saw out the game with smart tactical raids for their third win at home. With the win, they displaced Bengal Warriors at the top of Zone B.