Pro Kabaddi League 2018, Match 37: Dabang Delhi vs UP Yoddha Review

Dabang Delhi and UP Yoddha both teams, high on confidence after a win in their last matches will be squaring off in this inter-zone clash.

Starting 7:

Dabang Delhi – Naveen Kumar, Chandran Ranjit, Rajesh Narwal, Viraj Vishnu Landge, Ravinder Pahal, Vishal Mane, Joginder Narwal

UP Yoddha – Shrikant Jadhav, Prashant Kumar Rai, Narender, Nitesh Kumar, Rohit Kumar Choudary, Amit, Sagar Krishna

Substitutes used:

Satpal and Yogesh Hooda from Dabang Delhi and Azad Singh and Sachin Kumar from UP Yoddha.

Toss:

Toss won by UP Yoddha who chose the court.

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Naveen, who was Dabang Delhi’s lead raider opened his account in the very 1straid of the match with a bonus point. Rishank Devadiga, the Captain of UP Yoddha was not in playing 7 today. So, Prashant Rai was captaining the side and he too opened the scoring in the very 1st raid with a touch point and bonus.

It was turning out to be a battle of raiders with Shrikant Jadhav and Prashant Kumar Rai from the Yodhhas on song while Naveen and Chandran Ranjit from the Capital city continuously troubling the opposition defence.

Shrikant Jadhav’s continuous successful raids reduced Dabang Delhi to 2 players. The captain, Prashant Kumar Rai stepped up to get rid of the remaining 2 players in a single raid and inflict the 1stall-out of the night on Dabang Delhi. Score 14-12 in the favour of Yoddhas.

Delhi tried to make a comeback and took a review which went unsuccessful. The UP Yoddha, Shrikant Jadhav made a Toofani Super Raid and piled up the pressure on the Delhi side with the score of 14-21.

Just one minute before halftime, Dabang Delhi got all-out for the 2ndtime. At halftime, the score was 25-17. Needless to say, UP Yoddha was in the lead and cruising.

Shrikant Jadhav during an escape. [Picture Courtesy: ProKabaddi.Com]

With the start of the second half, Delhi seemed to fight back and started playing the game sincerely. They tackled a UP Yoddha raider with 3 men coming together as a team. This didn’t happen at all in the 1sthalf.

With just 3 minutes in the 3rdquarter, Joginder Narwal, Dabang Delhi’s captain got a green card for too much chatter on the court. But, Delhi’s defence was doing the talking with UP reduced to only 3 men. UP Yoddha super tackled Chandran Ranjit at a crucial juncture as the momentum seemed to be swinging towards Delhi.

With 13 minutes left on the clock, Yogesh Hooda’s 2ndankle hold of the night meant that UP was against reduced to 2 men. But, history repeated and UP executed another super tackle, this time on Naveen Kumar. The score was 22-30.

Finally, it was Chandran Ranjit’s 2-point raid that pushed UP towards their 1stall-out and brought Dabang Delhi back in the game, with a bang.

Naveen with his outstanding performance through the night became the first player in the match to score a Super 10.

The match caught fire with 10 minutes still to go. The score difference was 3 points. With successful raids by Naveen Kumar, the difference in score came down to 1-point. 9 minutes still on the clock and Delhi equalized the score to 31-all and just in a blink of an eye, Delhi came back in the lead, in their next raid.

This was a thrilling encounter and the Kabaddi fans were in for a treat. Prashant Kumar Rai also scored a Super 10 this night and we could see the responsibility of captaincy bringing the best out of him. With just 5 minutes on the clock, the game became very intense. None of the teams were ready to lose a point. The score was 33-all and both the teams started to play safe. One mistake on any side, and the game would change its course.

Amongst all this, Chandran Ranjit picked up a Super 10 and Shrikant Jadhav followed suit by getting a touch point on Joginder from Dabang Delhi.

With 2 minutes to go, the score was 35-all.

Prashant Kumar Rai attempting a raid. [Picture Courtesy: ProKabaddi.Com]

Shrikant Jadhav had a 2-point raid, getting rid of both Joginder Narwal and Ravinder Pahal to hand UP a lead of 1 point, with less than a minute left on the clock. This proved to be the turning point of the match. UP then kept their calm and tackled Naveen to win the match.

The match ended at 36-38 with UP Yoddha coming out as Zone B toppers.

In this slugfest of raiding points with 4 raiders completing Super 10s, it was UP Yoddha who showcased nerves of steel to come out victorious with a slender lead. This pushes them to the top of the stack for Zone B. This feat is more admirable as their leader Rishank Devadiga was missing from the game.

Delhi suffered their second loss of this season. Their raiders did their job but it was their defence that led them down at crucial junctures. They would want to improve on their 1sthalf performance in this match before their next game.