Pardeep Narwal EXCLUSIVE: “I don’t follow any other sport,” said Patna Pirates captain Pardeep Narwal when asked which other sport he likes to watch apart from Kabaddi. Narwal, 21, is already the leading raider in Pro Kabaddi League despite playing one season less than second-placed Rahul Chaudhari. The defending champions got off to a poor start and though they are currently placed on top of their zone after losing four of their ten games, they have played double the matches than second-placed Bengaluru Bulls.

Narwal, who has been with the side since the second season of the league, isn’t too worried about it. He believes that once their defence starts to click, the team will improve its record. In an exclusive conversation with Financial Express Online, Pardeep Narwal said that Patna Pirates were in a similar position last year as well after losing a few games. “Last season too, we had a similar start where we lost a few matches. But, there are a lot of matches to go so hopefully, the results will come our way,” he said.

The three-month long tournament has six teams divided into two zones with each side playing 18 matches in the league round. Patna lost the opening game of the season to Tamil Thalaivas, but lost its last four matches after failing to find the right combination.

Before the start of the season, it was expected that Pardeep’s performance will be affected by the absence of Monu Goyat who not only used to revive his skipper quickly last season but had also finished with 191 raid points – a number any supporting raider would be proud of.

The performance saw Monu fetch a bid of Rs 1.51 crore at the PKL auctions earlier this year and join Haryana Steelers. However, against all odds, Patna remains to be the most successful raiding side with 209 raiding points to its name. Pardeep has scored 95 raid points so far with six Super 10s to his name.

This season, he has got support from the experienced Deepak Narwal and young Manjeet.

CHECK | Pro Kabaddi League 2018 Schedule, Fixtures, Squads, Teams, starting date

“Raid mein kya hogi kami yar….aur raider hai, main bhi hun,” he said, when asked about Monu’s absence. “Monu is a very good raider. He helped me a lot last season but this year, of course, he is playing for a different team. But, this season we have a couple of other good raiders in the team like Deepak Narwal and Manjeet. But, our defence is slightly weak,” he added.

Patna is behind Puneri Paltan on the second spot in the list of most tackles with 83 points to its name. But, 33 of those points have been earned by Jaideep alone. “Our defence is struggling and we will try to improve in that area. If the defence starts to do well, the team’s performance will also pick up,” Pardeep said.

Pardeep Narwal is the only player to be adjudged Pro Kabaddi’s Most Valuable Player in two consecutive seasons (seasons 4 and 5). Last year, the Pirates’ captain scored a remarkable 369 raid points and was 150 points clear of the second most successful raider of the season.

He currently holds the record for most points in a single season (369), the highest points in a single game (34) and the most points in a single raid (8).

On his day, the Patna skipper is hard to bring down to the mat and is not scared of any defender. “Ab khelne aye hai toh pareshan karenge hi na….par koi aisa nahi hai jo alag se pareshan karega (They [defenders] also come to play so they will obviously trouble…but there is no specific problem against whom I struggle),” he said.