Season 4 Recap: Patna Pirates become first team to win two trophies

With Pro Kabaddi reaching incredible heights in a short time, another season, the fourth, kicked off in June 2016 amid much fanfare, welcomed by all teams, players and fans with open arms.

For the first time in Pro Kabaddi history, the league took place twice in the same year in the space of a few months. The popularity of the league had seen a sharp rise in the previous editions, and the trend continued in the fourth edition with TRPs reaching an all-time high.

Reigning champions Patna Pirates were again in sublime form right from the start and went on to lift their second trophy in style. The final match against Jaipur Pink Panthers, who were looking forward to adding to their success in the inaugural season, was nothing short of thrilling. It was effectively an encounter between Patna’s aggression vs Jaipur’s tactical brilliance. However, at the end of regulation time, the Pirates stamped their authority by recording a 37-29 victory over their formidable opponents at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad. Pardeep Narwal, rightly chosen Most Valuable Player of the Season, and Hadi Oshtorak were the superstars of the night.

Puneri Paltan claimed the third place after defeating Telugu Titans by a 40-35 scoreline, with Deepak Hooda proving to be the star-turn. Three-time finalists and champions once, U Mumba finished fifth, while Bengaluru Bulls, finalists in Season 2, finished sixth. Meanwhile, Dabang Delhi and Bengal Warriors had a disappointing season as they finished seventh and eighth respectively on the league table.

Even though Patna Pirates took home the trophy for the second consecutive time, it was Puneri Paltan who recorded maximum successful raids (230) and picked up maximum raid points (290). Telugu Titans’ Rahul Chaudhari was the best raider of the league with 110 successful raids and a total of 146 raid points. Jaipur Pink Panthers’ Amit Hooda made 47 successful tackles which took him to the top of the list, while Telugu Titans’ 157 successful tackles tally was followed closely by Patna Pirates (145), who also held the maximum super tackles record (26) for the league.

VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 5, starting July 28, now beckons us. This season promises to be much bigger and better than ever before with four new teams being introduced from Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Thirteen weeks of intense action, 138 thrilling matches, and a completely new format promises to take the league to greater glory.