Table-toppers Dabang Delhi dashed out the marching U Mumba side on a buzzing scoreline of 36-30 in Match No. 85 of the Pro Kabaddi League season eight caravan. Vijay Malik’s diligent Super 10 and four precious tackle points from vice-captain helped Delhi to register a six-point victory over traditional rivals.
Sandeep Narwal revealed to the PKL universe that ‘The Naveen Express’ will be back in action from this game onwards but the raiding sensation remained absent despite the hype created by the Dabang Delhi franchise for his awaited comeback in this fixture. While Mumba coach Subramanian Rajaguru gave a surprising start to Ajeet Chahar in place of in-form Rahul Sethpal who missed out due to lack of fitness. The Services right cover defender got the nod ahead of experienced candidates like Ashish Sangwan and Sunil Siddhagawli.
The high-voltage encounter was kick-started at a speedy pace as both sides claimed quick points early in the clock. Abhishek Singh was tackled by Sandeep in the first raid of the game while U Mumba defence gave a befitting reply by capturing Vijay in the very next raid. Early strikes from the Dabang fauj forced U Mumba on a verge of all-out but then two consecutive Super Tackles by the deadly duo of Fazel Atrachali and Harendra Kumar revived them from the crisis.
Incredible Super Tackle by Fazel Atrachali and Harendra Kumar
Then the Mumba gaffer pulled a masterstroke by bringing Shivam Thakur from the substitute bench who turned the odds for the Maharashtrian outfit. As the only raider of U Mumba on the mat, Shivam attempted two consecutive successful raids and also went on to score a Do-or-Die point which saved U Mumba from an all-out situation. The Mumbai-based franchise was left with only two players on the court but eventually concluded the first half forcing Delhi down to two men.
Unfinished work of the first half was completed by Mumba in the early minutes of the second half and inflicted all-out over the capital-based franchise. U Mumba gained a tiny lead and Fazel’s army retained it for the following ten minutes by slowing down the game’s pace. Krishan Hooda sent Neeraj Narwal on the battlefield and the young raider changed the fortunes of Dabangs for the remaining course of the game. The action-packed encounter entered into the last five minutes of the clock on a scoreline sizzling scoreline of 25-25.
Neeraj’s Dubki in the Do-or-Die attempt obtained two valuable raid points which brought Delhi on the driving seat with only two minutes remaining for the whistle. Then the rest of the work was collectively done by Dabang fauj and inflicted their first all-out of the match in the dying minutes of the clash. It was a strenuous task for Mumba to recover from that blow in the decisive moments and the referee called it a day.
U Mumba was in the cruising position at one point but the orange side failed to sustain their lead and lost control to Delhi invaders very soon. Sultan Fazel Atrachali and Mumbai’s raiding spearhead Abhishek had decent individual outings but couldn’t step up when the team needed them most. Although substitute Shivam impressed everyone with his cameo appearance by scoring six raid points with a strike rate of 67%, we will get to see more from the youngster in upcoming fixtures.
Narwal started the match as a raider but acquired the right-corner position from Krishan Dhull later on. Hence Krishan could not acclimate with this change and struggled to settle throughout the 40 minutes. Neeraj played the role of Super-sub and went on to score six crucial raid points in just seven raids. While Vijay Malik once again proved his consistency by contributing 11 raid points and a solitary tackle point in the triumph.
Dabang Delhi becomes the first team to cross the landmark of 50 match-points in the points table of season eight. Delhi’s superstar raider Naveen is yet to make a comeback from injury and his team is already seven points clear of the second-placed Bengaluru Bulls with an advantage of one game in hand.
While U Mumba had the golden opportunity to level with Bengaluru Bulls if they could have secured five points the Maharashtrian outfit had to satisfy with only one point from this fixture. Tough competition awaits for U Mumba to keep their stay in the Top 6 in order to achieve the playoffs qualification.