Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018, India vs Kenya: 5 Talking Points

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.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 matchIndia 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.

Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018, India vs Kenya: 5 Talking Points

#4 Victor Obiero proves the silver lining for the Kenyan side