The young raiding duo of Devank Dalal and Ayan Lohchab displayed a staggering performance as the Patna Pirates secured a massive 54-31 win over the Bengaluru Bulls in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) at the Noida Indoor Stadium on Tuesday.
Devank moved to the top of the Raiders list with 131 points to his name, as his side moved to 3rd on the standings as well.
Four super tackles defined the start of the game as the Bengaluru Bulls’ defenders got the better of the Patna Pirates’ raiders in what many thought would be a topsy-turvy clash. The Bengaluru Bulls rode on the ability of their defenders – especially Saurabh Nandal and Sunny Sehrawat – to keep the dangerous Devank Dalal and Ayan Lohchab quiet, a release said.
However, this was not to be for too long. Devank and Ayan found their groove as the Patna Pirates inflicted the first all-out of the match on the Bengaluru Bulls courtesy of a tackle by Deepak on Saurabh Nandal.
This gave the three-time PKL champions some much-needed momentum as they began to race away from their opponents. At the end of the first half, the score read 20-13 in favour of the Patna Pirates.
It was in the second half that the Patna Pirates really took the game to their opponents. Within three minutes, they inflicted an all-out on the Bengaluru Bulls, with Sandeep joining his raiding partners Devank and Ayan on the scoring charts. A Super Raid soon followed for Devank, and within five minutes, the Patna Pirates took a lead that would eventually become unassailable.
Another Super 10 soon followed for the young Devank, who made raiding look easy with his performance. The point that got Devank to a seventh Super 10 also inflicted a third all-out on Bengaluru, who continued to look out of sorts as the match came to a close. In the end, Ayan also completed a well-earned Super 10, taking the team’s total to more than 50 points, as the Bengaluru Bulls lost by a deficit of 23 points.
