| Pro Kabaddi: Patna Pirates – Road to PKL 2021 Final Feb 24th 2022, 06:53, by Abhijit Nair  The three-time champions Patna Pirates became the first team to reach the Pro Kabaddi League 2021 final, when they went past the UP Yoddha 38-27 in the first semifinal of the season.
The Pirates have displayed all-round show throughout the PKL 2021, with both their raiding and defensive units firing in tandem. Here, we look at the Patna Pirates' road to the final. A dominant Start The Patna Pirates started their PKL 2021 campaign in a rather dominating fashion, going past the Haryana Steelers 42-39 in their opening game. The Ram Meher Singh coached side was one of the most feared sides in the first half of the league as they ran riot with 7 wins and 1 tie in their first 11 games. Covid break The dominant run of the Pirates in the first half was brought to a halt, thanks to a covid-19 induced break in the middle of the season. The men in green were not seen in the mat for a long period of ten days and naturally questions were raised whether they will be able to continue from where they left off? A Strong comeback All the questions raised by the critics during this forced break were put to rest in a stunning fashion as the Pirates returned to the mat with a stunning 54-24 win over the Tamil Thalaivas in match 80 of PKL 2021. They did loss their next game to the Jaipur Pink Panthers, but what followed was a stuff of dreams as the Pirates registered 7 wins in a row to not only become the first team to qualify for the playoffs, but also seal the top spot and a direct entry to the semifinals.
The Mohammadreza Wall Making his PKL debut this season, Mohammadreza Chiyaneh has been undoubtedly the biggest star for the Patna Pirates this season. The Iranian started off his PKL career with just two successful tackles in his debut game, but has since went on to establish himself as one of the most feared defenders in the league. Playing in the left corner, Mohammadreza also became the first-ever player to register 10 High 5s in a season when he went past that mark in the semifinal against the UP Yoddha. Best raiding unit this season? Questions were raised from the Patna Pirates management decided to release Pardeep Narwal ahead of the auction and then failed to get him back. They were ridiculed for letting go of who probably has been the best raider in the history of the league. But, what critics failed to notice were the quality of raiders who came in to the side in Pardeep absence. The raiding quartet of captain Prashant Kumar Rai, Monu Goyat, Sachin Tanwar and the debutant Guman Singh has been the best raiding unit of this season. With everyone except captain Rai registering Super 10s meant that the Pirates' road to the final was a rather easy one.
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