Pro Kabaddi League: Dabang Delhi wins hearts, loses yet another duel
4th August 2014, New Delhi: Running out for their pregame lap in brilliant Red and Blue, Dabang Delhi were met by a standing ovation by its loyal Delhi fans.
Delhi's first raider Surjeet Narwal trotted onto Patna's side to start the game, but after a couple of crosscourt strafes, was unable to secure a point for his team. Patna's first raider also came home empty handed. But Delhi's next warrior, Shrikant Tewthia, put the first numbers on the board, adroitly escaping a tackle by Patna to earn the home team 1 point.
Patna, content to play copycat, sent out Captain Rakesh Kumar, who scored Patna's point in exactly the same way. Starting slowly, Patna were able to find an edge on Dabang Delhi and at the 10-minute mark, Patna had picked off all Delhi's players for a well-earned all out. The Delhi team soldiered on, and Delhi's star raider Shrikant was able to score an impressive point by literally pushing the Patna defense back to Delhi's side. The image was not unlike a car trying to go head to head with a train.
But despite the vast amount of talent on Delhi's side, it became increasingly clear that the Patna Pirates were the stronger team. Not even Delhi raider Kashiling Adake's signature flying leap was able to outsmart the comprehensive Patna defense, who brutally picked him out of the sky. The Delhi crowd was dismayed to find the score at 12-19 at halftime, with Patna in the lead and showing no signs of stopping. 2 outs by Patna's Mandeep Kumar followed by another 2 by Captin Rakesh left Delhi with only one player remaining, Surjeet Narwal. With another all out on the horizon, Delhi's crowd was on the edge of their seats for Surjeet to save the game.
Walking out onto Patna's side, all eyes upon him as he faced up to the daunting Patna Pirate defense. Surjeet saw his opportunity and striked. Running diagonally into the Patna crowd, Surjeet leaped up and ran over the backs of the astounded Patna players, earning Delhi 2 points and an additional player. Then, together with the newly in Amit Singh, they took down Ravi Dalal with only a 2-person defense.
But even with this amazing display of Kabaddi skills, Patna were unwilling to give up their lead. Superior playing and an astounding singlehanded flip of Kashiling Adake by Waseem Sajjad firmly cemented Patna's victory. The end of the game saw the scores at Dabang Dehli 31, Patna Pirates 36.
Standings after Match 18:
