The Patna Pirates rode the individual brilliance of Devank as they came from behind to defeat the Tamil Thalaivas in an absolute edge-of-the-seat thriller at the GMCB Indoor Stadium, in Gachibowli, in Hyderabad on Friday evening. Devank scored a whopping 25 points as the Patna Pirates won by 42-40, to register their first win of the PKL Season 11.

The Tamil Thalaivas were out of the blocks at good pace with Narender Kandola picking up a flurry of points to start with. And as the first few minutes were played out the Tamil Thalaivas took control of proceedings, putting pressure on the Patna Pirates.

For the Tamil Thalaivas, it was Narender Kandola, Sachin and Nitesh Kumar leading the charge, while Devank was soldiering on for the Patna Pirates. Midway through the first have, the Tamil Thalaivas had a solid 9-point lead. In the final minutes of the first half, Devank landed a Super Raid on the Tamil Thalaivas, and completed his Super 10. Similarly, Narender Kandola registered his Super 10 before the end of the first half, as the Tamil Thalaivas went into the break with the score at 23-18, in their favour.  

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 the Tamil Thalaivas off guard. The Patna Pirates’ raider took was in the mood for more, and with five minutes to go in the game, he 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.

Devank’s superb individual performance had rejuvenated the defensive unit, who were looking solid in the final phase of the game, and weren’t allowing the Tamil Thalaivas any scope to turn the contest around. Eventually, it was Devank who single-handedly turned the contest on its head, and handed the Patna Pirates a morale boosting win.