Dabang Delhi took on the Telugu Titans in front of their home crowd in Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League Season 3. The Titans looked to build upon their fantastic 40-22 win over the Bengaluru Bulls while the Eagles lost out to the Puneri Paltan in their previous encounter by a narrow margin. Like in the reverse fixture, it was the Telugu Titans who pulled off the victory this time around.
The first half was an incredible seesaw encounter, as both teams were all out once. It was the Titans who struck first as they defended well and opened up a 8-2 lead, before skittling out the Eagles in the 10th minute to open up a 10-3 lead.
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Delhi fought back as soon as they returned to the mat with Surjeet Singh and Kashiling Adake showing their class. They reduced the deficit to 11-9 and looked all set to take the lead, only to be denied by some stoic raiding by the Titans’ Meraj Sheykh.
With the second all out of the game, the Eagles made it 14 points each. In the very next raid, Rohit Baliyan of the Titans came up with a superb super raid, which was followed by a couple picked up by the crowd-favourite Kashi. Rahul Chaudhari then pulled off a series of successful raids to put his side in the ascendancy, but a super tackle by the Eagles’ Sandeep Dhull saw the half end at a tight 22-21 scoreline to the Telugu Titans.
HT: Telugu Titans 22-21 Dabang Delhi
It was the Titans who drew first blood in the second half with a successful defense. However, the Eagles made it 23-23 with a trademark super tackle from the right corner by the ‘Hawk’ Ravinder Pahal.
Another super tackle saw Delhi take the lead for the first time in the game as they made it 24-26 in their favour. But the Titans were quick to turn the tables as they showed strength in defense to notch up their second all out of the night and take a 29-26 lead.
They used this momentum to pick up a string of points and on the back of some expert raiding by skipper Rahul Chaudhari, they quickly dismantled the Eagles for the third time as the scoreline now read 39-30.
Delhi were unable to arrest the flow of points as the points they gained through Surjeet and Kashi’s incisive raids were getting lost due to some weak defending. The match ended 44-36 in favour of the Titans as they showed fine resolve to comeback and pick up a solid win.
FT: Telugu Titans 44-36 Dabang Delhi
In a match that belonged to the raiders as Rahul Chaudhari, with 17 points, and Rohit Baliyan, 10, top scored for the Titans while Kashiling’s 10 points and Surjeet Singh’s 13 points went in vain. The home team’s task gets even tougher as they entertain the league leaders Patna Pirates next while the Titans will face Puneri Paltan in a crunch match that may decide the semi-final place.
You can catch the highlights of the match, presented by hotstar, below:
