In the first game of Monday night, table toppers Patna Pirates took on last-placed Telugu Titans. PP, the most successful team of the PKL8 in terms of wins, were expected to sail through the victory with ease against an out of sorts Titans who have won just once this season, but Titans did their best to cause a headache for the opposition.
Patna knew that if they won this match, they would be guaranteed a top-two finish, which would give them two cracks at the finals, so they came all guns blazing as they inflicted an all-out on the Titans in the initial few minutes itself. Titans did not give up just yet, as they made a strong comeback, and with just two minutes to go in the first half, they themselves inflicted an all-out.
In the second half, Patna showed why they have been on top of the table this season as they continued to chip away with crucial points. They finally took a significant lead in the last five minutes of the encounter from where the Titans just couldn’t make a comeback.
The stars for Patna were Sachin Tanwar (Super 10) and Chiyaneh (High 5).
For Telugu Titans, Rajneesh scored a Super 10, whereas Ankik Beniwal managed seven raid points, but those were not enough to give Titans their second win of the season.
UP Yoddha-Dabang Delhi game saw a contest between proven performer Pardeed Narwal and upcoming rising star Naveen Kumar. Narwal’s side came on top as he completed his fourth consecutive Super 10 this campaign. Led by his Super 10, Yoddhas beat DDKC quite comfortably in the end by 44-28.
Kumar couldn’t do much as he scored only one raid point and was subsequently substituted because of an injury concern.
Vijay tried his best to step in for the absence of Naveen as he finished with eight raid points. However, Yoddhas’s defence played like a unit and denied Delhi any chances of staging a comeback.
This victory has given UP Yoddha a solid chance to make it to the playoffs as they now have 63 points from 21 fixtures and currently sit third on the points table.
The race to the playoffs is heating up, and that was clearly visible when the sixth-placed Gujarat Giants took on the seventh-placed Puneri Paltan. The game ended in a tie; 31-31. It was the 19th tie of the season.
A win would have given the Paltan a place in the top six as they would have replaced the Giants at the sixth spot, but the Giants were not to give up easily.
The Giants defence did not play well, but Rakesh (Super 10) and Ajay Kumar (8 raid points) ensured they got enough points.
For the Paltan, Mohit Goyat yet again shone with a Super 10. Sombir put in a fantastic display as well as he completed his High five.
This tied result has meant that both the teams are at the same spot on the points table as they were before the start of the match.
