Pro Kabaddi League hat-trick for Patna Pirates

Chennai: Patna Pirates thumped Gujarat Fortunegiants 55-38 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Saturday to clinch the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 5 title. Patna have won the PKL title for third consecutive season now.

Raider Pardeep Narwal (19 points) starred for Patna to single-handedly dominate the match and clinch the all-important victory. Defender Jaideep (5 points) too played a vital role.

For Gujarat, Sachin (11 points) was the top scorer. Patna struggled in the early stages before a raid by Pardeep levelled the scores at 15-15.

Patna did not look back from there taking a 21-18 lead at half-time. In the second half, Gujarat raiders Mahendra Rajput and Rohit Gulia picked up back to back successful raids to keep their side within touching distance of Patna.

But Patna, started taking lead with a bigger margin courtesy of Narwal who clinched successful raid points every time he entered the opposition mat. Monu Goyat too played a key role for the side in the second half.

Gujarat tried to sent their star raiders Sachin and Rohit more often in the opposition half in search of crucial points but failed to earn any. However, Chandran Ranjit earned a few vital points in the dying minutes of the match for the debutants which were not enough for them to clinch victory.