Haryana Steelers score comeback win, Patna Pirates convincing

Haryana Steelers scored a comeback win against U Mumba, overturning a nine-point deficit to win 48-39 at the Noida Indoor Stadium.

Mohammadreza Shadloui, Shivam Patare and Vishal Tate put in complete performance to give Haryana Steelers the win on Monday night, despite Ajit Chouhan getting 18 points for U Mumba.

Chouhan flew off the blocks with a two-point raid, getting Shadloui off the mat early in the contest. After some quick exchanges, Patare responded for his team with two-point raid of his own, giving Haryana Steelers a two-point lead.

That didn’t last too long though, because Chouhan was on a roll and putting on a show of his own. He executed a brilliant Super Raid to put U Mumba back in the lead and followed it up with another two-point raid, inflicting an ALL OUT on Haryana Steelers within the first 10 minutes of the match.

Mohammed Shadloui 

Shadloui -- who became the fastest to score 300 Tackle Points in PKL history -- and Patare helped Haryana Steelers stem some of the U Mumba momentum towards the end of the half, closing the gap to one-point after they managed an ALL OUT of their own, closing out a hard-fought first half with a scoreline of 23-22 in U Mumba’s favour.

A fascinating battle unfolded between Chouhan and Patare in second half as they exchanged some quick raids, with the latter completing his Super 10 in the second half, levelling up the scores at 29-29 at one stage.

The game turned on its head rather quickly as the Haryana Steelers roared back into the lead courtesy of some sharp raids from Shadloui. His side inflicted an ALL OUT on U Mumba, taking a five-point lead halfway through the second half.

The Iranian completed his High Five as the Haryana Steelers extended their lead in the closing stages. Unfortunately for U Mumba, it was a one-man show from Chouhan with his 18 points in the game. They did get a glimmer of hope with Shadloui getting a yellow card with under two minutes to go. However, Tate closed things out for the Haryana Steelers as he completed his Super 10.

Patna Pirates go past Gujarat Giants with ease 

The Patna Pirates put in an all-round performance that secured a 40-27 win over Gujarat Giants at the Noida Indoor Stadium. Ayan Lohchab was their star player with 10 points – including three Tackle Points – while Devank Dalal and Sandeep finished with six and five points respectively.

After a slow start in Monday’s match, the Patna Pirates found their groove as Dalal and Lohchab made up for their initial mistakes with raids that got the likes of Balaji D and Sombir off the mat. The Gujarat Giants and the Patna Pirates matched each other like-for-like in terms of both attack and defence at the start as Rakesh led the raiding department for the Gujarat Giants, scoring four quick points.

Patna Pirates (in white) against Gujarat Giants

As the first half came to a close, the Patna Pirates got themselves back into the game, equalising the score and then getting the Gujarat Giants ALL OUT with two minutes remaining until the end of the half. This was enough to allow the Patna Pirates to take a 21-16 lead at the end of the first 20 minutes.

The Gujarat Giants mounted a comeback in the second half with the hopes of reducing the deficit, but the Patna Pirates had an answer to most of their moves. While Devank and Ayan led the charge for the Gujarat Giants, they were well-supported by the likes of right raider Sandeep and right cover defender Deepak.

Tags : PKL, Season 11, Pro Kabaddi League, Mohammedreza Shadloui, Haryana Steelers, U Mumba, Patna Pirates, Gujarat Giants