Pro Kabaddi 2019, Dabang Delhi vs Patna Pirates: Delhi make superb comeback to drown Pirates
Dabang Delhi moved to the top of the points table yet again after defeating Patna Pirates in the 108th clash of Pro Kabaddi 2019, played at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Vijay Malik's grand five-pointer raid changed the result of the match as he collected a whopping 13 points for Delhi. Naveen Kumar, despite not being in his usual best form, garnered 11 points in 21 raids.
Patna's Pardeep Narwal left everyone stunned after picking up a staggering total of 19 raid points. Jang Kun Lee also helped him by scoring seven points. However, the three-time champions eventually suffered a setback after losing a battle in which they clearly had the upper hand.
Chandran Ranjit went for the first raid of the night and returned with a swift hand touch on Patna's Vikas Jaglan. The sensational Pardeep Narwal then opened the account for the Patna-based franchise with a bonus.
Six minutes into the highly-anticipated battle, Delhi cruised to a 5-3 lead. Soon enough, Jaglan's mighty game brought the score to a 5-5 tie.
Despite a dream-like start, the defenders of Delhi gave away points to the Pirates as the match proceeded. However, Naveen Kumar was quick to retain his squad members.
In this extremely close-called affair, both teams made every move carefully to avoid silly errors. Narwal's successful dubki followed by Vijay Malik's two-pointer concluded the first half of the match with the two teams tied at 13-13.
Delhi defender Anil Kumar kickstarted the second half with a Super Tackle on Narwal, who was quickly retained, courtesy Jang Kun Lee's two-pointer raid. Soon, Jaglan's superb tackle inflicted an ill-fated all-out on Delhi in the 23rd minute.
A mindblowing three-point Super Raid by the record-breaker Narwal helped him complete his 13th Super 10 of PKL 2019. Both Ravinder Pahal and Joginder Narwal were kept off the mat for most of the time by Patna's offense.
Naveen Kumar too surprisingly spent most of his time off the mat in the second half, due to which Delhi struggled. With just six minutes remaining on the clock, the men in green led 33-27.
Narwal, meanwhile, rewrote history once again after becoming the only player to reach the milestone of 1100 raid points. Malik then performed a wonderful three-point raid and completed the first Super 10 of his career.
Later on, he asked for a review, claiming not just three but five touch points. A successful review reduced Patna's six-point lead to just one.
With just three minutes left on the clock, Naveen Kumar inflicted an out-of-the-world all-out on the Pirates and completed his 16th consecutive Super 10, which also put Delhi in a 40-37 lead.
Ultimately, Dabang Delhi clinched the 43-39 victory. Patna Pirates, who were brilliant throughout the encounter, left it loose on the last few seconds and made quite a few schoolboy errors, which gave the match away to the opponents.
Follow Sportskeeda for all the updates on Pro Kabaddi Schedule 2019, news, points table, Dream 11 Pro Kabaddi, and fantasy tips.