Dabang Delhi produced a mindblowing comeback as they erased a 13-point deficit and clinched a hard-fought 45-43 win over Tamil Thalaivas in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 match at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Ashu Malik was Dabang Delhi’s star as he finished with 18 raid points, as did Tamil Thalaivas’ Narender.
Tamil Thalaivas raced off the blocks in style with an all-out inside the opening 5 minutes. Narender ran through the Dabang Delhi defence and the raiders were on song as Tamil Thalaivas soared to a 9-2 lead. Ashan Kumar’s side were brilliant on all accounts and their dominance was wide on display as they secured another all-out in the 15th minute and climbed to a mammoth lead at 22-9.
Dabang Delhi, who have already qualified for the playoffs, failed to get going as captain Ashu was the only one who kept the scoreboard ticking. The defence had a poor outing and leaked points aplenty as Tamil Thalaivas went into the interval leading 25-14.
Ashu’s men made a good start to the 2nd period as they inflicted an all-out in the 24th minute and reduced their deficit to just 5 points at 25-20. However, their hopes of a comeback were dashed by some brilliant raiding from Narender. The youngster starred with a multi-point raid, bagged a Super 10 and led his side to an all-out that propelled them to a 12-point lead at 34-22.
While it looked like the odds were stacked against them, Dabang Delhi produced a miraculous comeback. It began with a super raid from Meetu Sharma and then Ashu switched gears as Dabang Delhi clinched an all-out at 33-38 with 6 minutes to go.
What followed was a raiding masterclass from Ashu as he got the better of every Tamil Thalaivas defender to level the scores at 38-38 and then a splendid tackle from Manu on Narender in the 39th minute awarded Dabang Delhi an all-out and the lead at 43-42. Ashu grabbed his 18th point of the game in the final raid as he climbed to the top of the standings for the season’s best raider and Dabang Delhi bounced back to winning ways.
Puneri Paltan 29-26 Bengal Warriors
The Puneri Paltan registered a 29-26 win over Bengal Warriors in Kolkata to top the table with 86 points under their belt in the ongoing edition of the PKL.
Akash Shinde was the winning side’s top scorer with a super 10 on the day and was supported ably by Pankaj Mohite’s six-point contribution to the team’s cause.
Nithin Kumar and Maninder Singh put up 5 points and 4 points respectively for the side from Bengal, but their efforts proved futile as they lost the game in front of their home support.
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