Bengaluru, Feb 20 (IANS): A collective effort from Patna Pirates helped them beat Haryana Steelers 30-27 in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 8 encounter here on Saturday.

Despite their first-place finish already confirmed, Patna Pirates were not able to relax on the mat as the Haryana Steelers gave the three-time champion a tough fight. But a collective effort from Sachin (8 points), last match hero Guman Singh (4 points) and reliable defender Mohammadreza Shadloui ensured a win in an intense match against Haryana Steelers.

The table-toppers Pirates were made to sweat for their points in the first half by a resilient Steelers, but they switched gears in the second to decimate the opposition.

Raider Ashish scored eight points for the Haryana Steelers, but Pirates defenders did not give much space to Steelers' star performer Vikash Khandola managed to score only four points.

Pirates had just a 3-point advantage at half time but in the second half, teams' raiders scored more points in the last minutes of the game that helped them to clinch a well-fought victory against the Steelers.

Steelers started the match on the front foot with the raiding duo of Ashish and Vikash looking in red-hot form. They got the better of the Patna raiders while at the other end Haryana Steelers tightened the defence with Jaideep and Surender Nadda.

The stroke of luck helped Patna Pirates gain the upper hand and they clinched an ALL OUT in the 17th minute. Pirates increased their lead, but Haryana immediately changed the complexion of the game with a Super Raid. However, the neck-to-neck match ended 30-27 with Patna Pirates holding on to a slender lead.