Dabang Delhi was routed by the Bengaluru Bulls 22-61 in the 50th match of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 at the Sheraton Grand Convention Centre in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
The battle was expected to be between Pawan Kumar Sehrawat and Naveen Kumar but it didn’t pan out that way as the Bulls completely outplay the Delhi-based franchise to go second in the PKL 8 standings.
Naveen Kumar was struggling in the previous match against the Jaipur Pink Panthers as the ankle kept ailing him and he missed out on the clash. Vijay started off the proceedings for the Delhi-based franchise and got off the mark straight away.
Pawan Kumar got a bonus point but an unsuccessful tackle as a defender meant that he was on the bench. The two teams were level on terms in the first 3 minutes with the scores level at 3-3.
Chandran Ranjit had been the top raider with 3 points as Pawan Kumar had been off the mat for a longer duration of time. Bengaluru Bulls were reduced to 3 men in the 9th minute but a super tackle by Saurabh Nandal put them in command with a 4 point lead. Pawan Kumar Sehrawat was tackled twice in as many minutes but the Bulls had a lead of 3 points. After he was back on the mat, he pulled off a super raid and completed his super 10.
The Bulls inflicted an all-out in the 12th minute and from there on, they didn’t look back. The Dabang Delhi were clueless against a formidable Bengaluru franchise who had a whopping raid strike rate of 76.16% and a tackle success rate of 60%. The Joginder-led Delhi team succeeded in only 16% of the tackles and were completely outplayed in the first half.
In the second half, Dabang Delhi had no tackle points as the Bulls crushed their opponents. The Bulls inflicted 5 all-outs on Delhi and they displayed one of the most dominant performances with Pawan Kumar bagging 27 points in the encounter.
The experienced players like Manjeet Chillar, Ajay Thakur, Sandeep Narwal, and Joginder Narwal had completely failed throughout the course of the match.
In the next match, Bengaluru Bulls will face Gujarat Giants in the 54th match while Dabang Delhi will clash with Haryana Steelers.