Patna Pirates rode the individual brilliance of Devank as they came from behind to defeat Tamil Thalaivas in an absolute edge-of-the-seat thriller at the GMCB Indoor Stadium in Gachibowli, Hyderabad on Friday evening.
Devank scored a whopping 25 points as Patna Pirates won by 42-40 to register their first win in PKL Season 11.
Tamil Thalaivas were out of the blocks at a good pace with Narender Kandola picking up a flurry of points to start with. And as the first few minutes were played out, Tamil Thalaivas took control of proceedings, putting pressure on Patna Pirates.
For Tamil Thalaivas, it was Narender Kandola, Sachin, and Nitesh Kumar leading the charge, while Devank was soldiering on for Patna Pirates. Midway through the first half, Tamil Thalaivas had a solid 9-point lead.
In the final minutes of the first half, Devank landed a Super Raid on Tamil Thalaivas and completed his Super 10. Similarly, Narender Kandola registered his Super 10 before the end of the first half as Tamil Thalaivas went into the break with the score reading 23-18 in their favor.
After the break, Devank continued to chip away at the lead and landed another Super Raid, which brought the deficit down to 2 points. Devank, who had registered a whopping 22 points in the first 30 minutes of the game, caught Tamil Thalaivas off guard.
He was in the mood for more and with five minutes to go in the game, Devank put his team in the lead. By now, the dangerous Devank had scored 25 points and was intent on getting the job done for his side.
His superb individual performance had rejuvenated the defensive unit, who were looking solid in the final phase of the game and weren’t allowing Tamil Thalaivas any scope to turn the contest around.
Eventually, it was Devank who single-handedly turned the contest on its head and handed Patna Pirates a morale-boosting win.
Puneri Paltan Put in Superb All-Round Performance
Puneri Paltan returned to winning ways with a clinical performance against Bengaluru Bulls on Friday evening at the GMCB Indoor Stadium in Gachibowli, Hyderabad. Puneri Paltan, who are captained by Aslam Inamdar, won the game by a scoreline of 36-22.
Puneri Paltan began the game with a flurry of quick points early on. Mohit Goyat and captain Aslam Inamdar were doing some serious damage in the initial few minutes of the game. Before the first 10 minutes of the game were up, Gaurav Khatri inflicted an All-Out on Bengaluru Bulls, which then gave Puneri Paltan a substantial lead.
As the first half wore on, Puneri Paltan strengthened their stranglehold on the game with almost every member of the side picking up crucial points.
In the first half, Aslam Inamdar and Mohit Goyat led the charge for Puneri Paltan, who went into the break with the score reading 18-11 in their favor. In the second half, Bengaluru Bulls would have a big task on hand.
After the break, Puneri Paltan came out all guns firing once again and extended their lead to 12 points within the first five minutes of the half.
Bengaluru Bulls were fighting hard with Pankaj, Ajinkya Pawar, and Nitin Rawal looking to turn the tables on their opponents. With 10 minutes to go, Puneri Paltan had a 13-point lead and was dominating the contest.
By now, the defending champions were holding strong, and even as Bengaluru Bulls continued to chase the points, Puneri Paltan’s solid defensive unit was ensuring that matters would not go out of control.
Pankaj Mohite and Mohit Goyat were leading the scoring charts for Puneri Paltan and had ample support from Gaurav Khatri and Aman in what was turning out to be an all-round performance. Eventually, Puneri Paltan walked off the mat with a comprehensive win.