PKL-5 : Patna Pirates hammer Telugu Titans

Ranchi, Sep 15 (IANS)  In the opening match of the Ranchi leg of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 5,  Pardeep Narwal continued his stellar form, scoring 14 points to lead the Patna Pirates to a comfortable 46-30 win over Telugu Titans, on Friday.

Narwal was ably supported by Monu Goyat, who scored with 10 points. 

Patna are now second in Zone B with 41 points from 12 matches while Telugu Titans are fourth in Zone B with 30 points from 16 games. This was the Titans' 11th defeat of the season as their dismal run in the tournament continued.

Patna skipper Narwal started with a super raid to take a 3-0 lead in the first minute while his opposite number Rahul Chaudhari scored with his first raid as the Titans trailed 2-4 after two minutes. 

Patna Pirates wasted little time to inflict an all out as they led 10-2 after four minutes. Nilesh Salunke and Rahul then got raid points for the Titans as they trailed 7-11 in the seventh minute. 

The Titans came back strongly as they inflicted an all out in the 11th minute to lead 12-11.

Both teams exchanged raid and tackle points in the next few minutes as it was 14-14 in the 13 th minute. Narwal made a successful raid in the 17th minute as Patna inflicted another all out to lead 21-16. 

Patna recovered from Titans' onslaught as they led 23-16 at the end of the first half.

In the first five minutes of the second half both teams scored two points each as Patna led 25-18. Monu scored two raid points in quick succession to give Patna a 27-18 lead. 

Patna lead 29-20 with 10 minutes left on the clock and looked on course to a comfortable win before Narwal attained his ninth super 10 of the season helping his side inflict an all out to lead 33-20 in the 31st minute.

Rahul scored a raid point in the 35th minute as Telugu Titans trailed 25-36 but Narwal foiled all hopes of Titans' comeback with a two-point raid in the next minute. 

Monu scored with a two-point raid in the 37th minute as Patna Pirates went on to inflict another all out in the 39th minute to stretch their lead to 44-27. 

In the dying minutes of the match, a tackle point was all the Titans could manage before succumbing to a 30-46 defeat.