PKL semifinal: Patna defeat Pradeep’s UP; Delhi pips Pawan’s Bengaluru to enter the final
An action pack day of sports finally comes to an end. And we have the two finalists for the eighth season of the PKL.
Two PKL semi-finals were played on Wednesday, which produced some high-quality Kabaddi.
In the first match of the evening, the clash of the titans where Patna took on UP Yoddhas.
What made this match fascinating was the cagy past these two teams shared earlier in the league.
However, everyone really wanted to see the rivalry between Pradeep Narwal and his ex-team Patna Pirates.
Pradeep was not having the best of the season so far, but his performance against Puneri Paltan in the eliminator had shown signs of revival.
1st Semifinal: Patna Pirates vs UP Yoddha
Coming into this game, everyone was expecting him to replicate his performance. Patna’s defence didn’t allow it to happen, though.
The Patna Pirates played to its strength as they have done throughout this season. Their strong point going into the tournament was defence, and they remained unaltered in that department.
They started the game positively by inflicting a quick all-out on UP. It was an early sign of trouble for UP which couldn’t seem to be able to find their feet in the match.
They continued making mistakes in their defence which gifted Patna easy points. On the other hand, Patna played to their strength and didn’t give any silly points in defence.
As a result, Patna inflicted three all-outs on UP in the first half itself. They had a hefty lead of 15 points heading into halftime with this.
The second half was no different. UP’s raider’s trio of Pradeep, Gill, and Jadhav failed to live up to their reputations. And their defence didn’t come to the rescue at all.
In the end, it was Patna Pirates who qualified for their fourth final in eight seasons. It was an inspiring performance by the Iranian Shadloui and Sunil in defence, who saw them through in this match.
Shadloui picked up six tackle points while Sunil completed another high five. Patna defeated UP by a massive margin of 9 points as the match ended at 38-27.
2nd semifinal: Dabang Delhi vs Bengaluru Bulls in PKL semifinal
The second game of the evening was a relatively close match played between Bangalore Bulls and Dabang Delhi.
It started as a close encounter and maintained the exact nature till the very end.
This was another game of rivalry between two great raiders from either side. While Bangalore was led by the young gun Pawan Kumar, he was matched toe to toe by his opposite number Navin Kumar.
These players were the most significant contributors to their respective in the raid’s tally. However, the game was again decided in the defence, and Bangalore lost that duel.
It was tough to call which way it would go during halftime, but the second half saw some really sloppy play by Bangalore in defence.
Naveen Kumar unleashed the untamed spirit of a young raider in the final quarter of the game to tilt the game in his team’s favour.
The bad defence of Bangalore came to haunt them at the end as they were defeated by a slender margin of 5 points. Some of their worst mistakes at the back came in the dying moments of the game.
Even their captain Pawan Kumar couldn’t hold his nerves as they made some nervy challenges to lose crucial points.
Dabang Delhi emerged as the winner of the second semifinal of PKL. They defeated Bangalore by the margin of 40-35.
The final of PKL season 8 will be played on the 25th of February between Dabang Delhi and Patna Pirates.
