Showstopper Pardeep has everyone in awe

It was a no-brainer to gauge the extent of Pardeep Narwal’s pre-eminence when the rival team’s coach and players were left with their mouths gaping and hands clapping at his show-stopping act of bravura. They joined the adoring crowd in cheering Pardeep to the echo. 

Maybe, the Haryana team was down with Monday evening blues! Fans of Patna Pirates who thronged the venue were in for a treat as history was made by the 20-year-old captain Marvel. Indeed, such was Pardeep’s brilliance that even the tiny few supporters of Haryana Steelers, keeping aside their team loyalties, were spellbound by his Super Raids. In what was essentially a door-die contest, Pardeep took giant strides towards sporting immortality, despite a career that is still in infancy, by making a mockery of Haryana defence. 

He had an answer to everything thrown at him and even the experienced duo of Surender Nadda and Mohit Chhillar were unable to prevent him from going berserk. Pardeep’s pyrotechnics lit up the already brightly illuminated arena and the decibel levels went through the roof whenever he went on the prowl with the ravenous appetite of a wolf and the reflexes of a feline. 

He enjoyed a sumptuous supper at the expense of the hapless Haryana team. And there were many records that fell as he became the first raider to go past 350 raid points in a season in the entire history of Pro Kabaddi League. That is not all as he finished with 34 raid points on the night, enough to take him past Bengaluru Bulls’ Rohit Kumar’s hitherto record tally of 32 points. 

Another interesting piece of statistics is that he single-handedly whittled the beleaguered Haryana team down to size as his 34 points were four more than what his opponent could muster. Despite the profoundly felt absence of the local team and former champion, U Mumba, the choc-a-bloc gathering was vociferous in its cheering of Pardeep’s wizardry. 

If the defenders have a torrid time in keeping Pardeep quiet, then the plight of the media personnel is entirely different as they find it an excruciatingly painful process to make the taciturn raider come out of his silent mode. Just to surmise, Pardeep perhaps is on a mission to personify the age-old adage that, “Action is always louder than words.” 

Or, someone should gently remind him that there is no gag order imposed and that silence doesn’t always have to be golden. Given how he has been going on a rampaging run, bulldozing all defences in his path to exalted glory, his opponents would do well to consider waving a white flag much before stepping on to the mat. That might spare them the ignominy of leaving the stadium with a tail between their badly bruised legs.