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The thrilling Kabaddi action carried on midweek as World Cup champions India took on Kenya at the Al Wasl Sports Complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The Indian side played their final match in the group stage against the Kenyans who had one more match to go against the Pakistani team. In the previous encounter against the Kenyan side, India had managed to score a massive 48-19 victory owing to a superb dual show by Rishank Devadiga and Monu Goyat who terrorized the Kenyan defense with their individual Super 10 performance.
The Kenyan side has shown good heart in the tournament with their defensive performance on the mat scoring a number of Super Tackles but have not got going in their raiding department. Chrispine Otieno, Victor Obiero and captain David Mosambayi have not been prolific in their raiding in the matches played so far.
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The two sides came into the match on the back of contrasting results against the third team Pakistan in the Group A. Kenya lost out to the Pakistan side in a 43-21 defeat in their first clash in the group stage. Meanwhile, the Indian side emerged victorious in strong fashion over their neighboring rivals with a 41-17 win in a good all-around performance.
India played a makeshift starting 7 lineup tonight against Kenya as Pardeep Narwal and Surender Nada returned to the lineup in place of Rohit Kumar and Deepak Niwas Hooda. Pardeep led the raiding charge along with skipper Ajay Thakur and Rishank Devadiga.
The Indian defence was led by the lethal duo of Surender Nada and Mohit Chhillar with the experienced Surjeet Singh at the cover to oversee proceedings. Kenya played a full strength side with skipper David Mosambayi leading with Chrispine Otieno, Victor Obiero and Izaac Njoroge in tow and hoped to trouble the mighty Indians on the mat.
India produced a strong performance beating the Kenyan side with a score of 50-15 as Pardeep Narwal and Rahul Chaudhari were back in form for the Indian side. India will take on the Korea Republic in the semi-finals of the Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018. Kenya will face Pakistan tomorrow for a chance to enter the semi-finals.
#1 India run away into a strong early lead in the match
India made one major change to their raiding department as Pardeep Narwal was given a chance by coach Srinivas Reddy after a couple of matches in place of Rohit Kumar in the starting seven.
Pardeep Narwal proved true to his reputation and made hay of the opportunity running havoc on the Kenyan defenders from the starting bugle. India ran into a comfortable lead of 14-2 within the first 8 minutes of the match. Ajay Thakur and Rishank Devadiga worked well in tandem alongside Pardeep to keep the scoreboard going and the Indian defence stood strong against the Kenyan raiders to not leak any easy points.
#2 Pardeep Narwal comes back to sublime form
A rare downer in an otherwise stellar Indian side had been the first match's poor showing of the Pro Kabaddi League MVP Pardeep Narwal. The star raider was benched for the next two subsequent matches by the coach and other raiders were given a shot in the side. However, tonight saw Narwal being named in the lineup.
Pardeep started the half with a bang and picked up four points in the first six minutes of the match with superb raiding showing glimpses of his brilliance on the mat. He managed to score a tally of 6 raid points in the first half of the match and ended the game with a tally of 8 raid points.
#3 Like Pardeep Narwal, Rahul Chaudhari strikes form too
The other star raider who had not played up to the mark in the Kabaddi Masters Dubai in the first match was Rahul Chaudhari, the highest points scorer in Pro Kabaddi League history. Chaudhari was also benched for the next two matches by the coach.
Today, even though he did not start in the initial seven, Chaudhari came on as a substitute for Rishank Devadiga in the final 10 minutes of the first half. He went on to score five raid points in quick succession as he regained his form at a good juncture in the tournament.
#4 Victor Obiero proves the silver lining for the Kenyan side
In a match that saw all the Kenyan raider struggle against the might of the Indian defenders, one man stood out with his performance on the mat, Victor Obiero.
Obiero was fearless against the Indians as he went about with his raiding with a great confidence that was refreshing to see. His standout moment was the three-point Super Raid that he scored in the second half of the match as he wrestled his way past the rushing defenders on the right corner of the Indian defence.
#5 India narrowly escape an all-out at the end
The Kenyan raider Victor Obiero's exploits on the mat proved to be quite effective for Kenya as for the first time in the match, they looked in control of proceedings reducing India to two men on the mat.
However, Indian defenders Surjeet Singh and the returning Manjeet Chhillar had different plans. They did not allow the Kenyan side to inflict the all-out defending smartly and Surjeet Singh even managed to score a Super Raid with a three-point effort to close out the match.
Who do you think has been India's best performer so far at the Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018? Tell us in the comments below!
