Patna Pirates and Bengal Warriors were involved in a high-octane 36-36 draw at the Dome at NSCI SVP Stadium in Mumbai yesterday. Bengal’s Deepak Narwal scored a game-high 11 points, including a Super 10, while Dubki King Pardeep Narwal top-scored for the Pirates with seven points. Patna’s Vishal Mane managed six tackle points and Bengal’s Surjeet Singh also bagged six points – five tackle points and a touch point.

The teams got the scoreboard ticking through bonus points as the sides were feeling each other out in the opening exchanges. Patna began to take control of the game around the sixth minute of the encounter with Pardeep, Mane, Vinod Kumar and Monu Goyat all playing their part.

The reigning champions then effected an All-Out on Bengal after a successful tackle by Mane in the 11th minute to open up a 13-6 lead. Goyat did most of the raiding for the remainder of the half for Patna after Pardeep picked up a slight injury.

It didn’t make much of a difference though, with Goyat in tandem with Kumar wreaking havoc on Bengal’s defence. Kumar picked up a super raid for the Pirates in the 18th minute and Pardeep soon returned to his raiding duties and reduced the Warriors to just one player. It set up an All-Out on Bengal for the second time in the half, making it 24-11 in favour of the Pirates at half-time.

Bengal started the second period the better of the two teams and reduced the deficit to 25-16 by the 26th minute. A super tackle by Patna a minute later though helped the Pirates regain their first-half momentum momentarily.

Mane then brought up a High 5 six minutes later as the Pirates looked like they were coasting to victory with a little under eight minutes left in the game. Bengal though had other ideas and in the 37th minute managed a two-point raid courtesy of Deepak, who had been sensational for them all night.

It helped them inflict an All-Out on Patna and reduce the gap to just four points. Before long, Deepak picked up another two points from his side’s last raid of the match, making it a one-point game. At this point all Goyat needed to do off his team’s final raid of the game is consume eight seconds but he succumbed to pressure and a Bengal tackle as the match ended in a tie.