After a hard-fought battle in the regular league season that saw a lot of blood, sweat, tears as well as the quintessential 'Le Panga', the Pro Kabaddi League 2015 now moves to the most decisive phase, as the four top teams battle it out in the playoffs.
There are no favourites or underdogs in the next four games as anything can be expected.
While there was no question of either leaders U Mumba or Telugu Titans or even Bengaluru Bulls qualifying to the next stage of the competition right from the moment the second leg matches of the league began, we were made to wait until yesterday (19 August) to determine which team would make it to the fourth spot.
And the battle between defending champions Jaipur Pink Panthers and Patna Pirates turned out to be the decisive one.
The Patna side won in the most dramatic fashion at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Wednesday to dash the hopes of the defending champions to become title contenders for a second straight time.
A do-or-die encounter turned the game in favour of the Pirates' as the scoreline read 26-24 at the end of the game, enabling Patna Pirates to move to the fourth spot in the league table with 41 points, just three points ahead of the Pink Panthers.
Korean Tae Deok Eom and Gurvinder Singh were instrumental in the game for the Pirates, and so was skipper Sandeep Narwal.
In the other game played on Wednesday, Bengaluru Bulls beat hosts Puneri Paltan to successfully notch five points and cement their position in the top three. Deepak Kumar Dahiya and Manjeet Chhillar were at their usual best for the Bangalore side.
Bengaluru finished their regular league season with 48 points, just two points behind Telugu Titans.
The Titans, on their part, had a stunning end to their regular league season campaign this time, as they edged past leaders U Mumba in their last game on 18 August with a whopping 46-25 scoreline.
Mumba had no answer to the brilliant display by the Hyderabadi side; Rohit Baliyan and Prashant Rai completely terrorised the Mumbai defence.
U Mumba captain, Pradeep Kumar, who had six raiding and three defence points, remained the only valiant fighter for his side.
Mumbai topped the league with 60 points.
Points of the Top 4 Teams: U Mumba [60]; Telugu Titans [50]; Bengaluru Bulls [48]; Patna Pirates [41]
Pro Kabaddi 2015 Semi-Final Fixtures
Venue: NSCI, Mumbai
21 August: Semi-Final 1: Telugu Titans vs Bengaluru Bulls (8 PM IST)
21 August: Semi-Final 2: U Mumba vs Patna Pirates (9 PM IST)
