Jaipur Pink Panthers defeat Dabang Delhi 30-28 in a close contest

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Sahul Kumar had 8 tackle points from 9 tackles tonight

Jaipur Pink Panthers defeated  Dabang Delhi 30-28 in the 46th match of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 at the Sheraton Grand Convention Centre in Bengaluru on Monday. 

The Dabang Delhi started off with a couple of points as Sandeep Narwal pulled off a thigh hold on Jaipur’s talismanic raider Arjun Deshwal. Naveen Kumar opened his account with a touchpoint and Delhi was in the lead. In his next raid, he bagged his 2nd point as Delhi got an early lead of 4-1 in the 5th minute of the match.

The skipper extended the lead to 6-2 as Delhi was comfortably in the lead but a successful raid by Deshwal followed by a super tackle on Naveen reduced the lead to just a solitary point in the 9th minute of the game.

The Jaipur Pink Panthers led by Sandeep Dhull’s audacious tackling meant that they were in a slender lead of one point. The match remained evenly poised as both the teams weren’t giving the opposition an inch. The first half ended with both the teams having 12 points in their kitty. 

The cat and mouse game was played in the final minutes of the first half as Arjun and Naveen had managed just 3 and 4 points respectively to everyone’s surprise. In the first raid of the second half, Naveen scored his 600th raid point in PKL’s history and broke Pardeep Narwal’s record of reaching the mark in the quickest time. Naveen completed the feat in 53 matches while Pardeep took 63 matches.

Naveen Kumar’s streak of 27 consecutive super 10s came to an end

Naveen Kumar’s streak of 27 consecutive super 10s came to an end

Dabang Delhi inflicted an all-out on the Jaipur Pink Panthers in the 5th minute of the second half as Naveen found his Midas touchback. The Panthers continued to make mistakes in the defensive department.

Post the all-out, Arjun led the comeback for the Panthers and the two teams were tied at 20 points each with 10 minutes to play in the contest. Deepak Hooda with 5 raid points had been phenomenal for the Pink Panthers while Sahul Kumar with 8 tackle points had been the hero for the pink city-based franchise. The defender had stopped the Naveen Express and was the major reason for Jaipur’s victory.

The Panthers reduced the Delhi team to just two men on the field but a successful raid pulled the franchise back into the contest. They followed it up with a successful super tackle and got a valuable lead of 4 points with 5 minutes to play in the contest.

The Jaipur Pink Panthers sparked a turnaround as they inflicted an all-out on the Dabang Delhi. Deepak, Sahul, and Sandeep Dhull were impressive as they gained a lead of a couple of points. They held onto the lead in the dying minutes and bagged the contest.

Dabang Delhi will face Bengaluru Bulls on Wednesday while Jaipur Pink Panthers will clash with the Patna Pirates on Friday.

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