Dabang Delhi got their first win of the second season of Pro Kabaddi with a narrow 38-37 win over Puneri Paltan. The Paltans came into the match on the back of an 8-match winless run, which stretched to last season. Rohit Kumar Chaudhary and Kashiling Adake shone for the Dabangs as Wazir Singh and Pravin Niwale were the stars for the losing team on a field day for the raiders.
The duck was broken by Wazir Singh, who got two Dabang Delhi players out in his first raid. Kashiling Adake revived Jasmer Gulia back after returning successfully from his foray into the Pune half. Wazir got 2 more points in his next raid as Pune led 4-1 after 2 minutes.
However, Rohit Kumar Chaudhary got Dabang in the lead with a single raid, where he got 4 Paltan players out. This signalled a landslide as Delhi got one of the fastest all outs in Pro Kabaddi history as they got the team from Maharashtra out in just 7 minutes.
Mahipal Narwal and Wazir Singh helped reduce Delhi’s lead to 3 points as the scoreline read 12-9 in the 13th minute, but youngster Kashiling Adake came up with a super raid to extend his team’s lead to 6 points. Not to be left behind, Rohit came back with 3 more points in a single raid as Dabang Delhi got close to condemn Paltans to another all out.
With just a minute left in the half, Pune suffered their second all out as Dabang Delhi led 24-11. They took 1 more point by catching Wazir Singh in the penultimate raid of the half as Honnappa C Gowda’s side enjoyed a healthy 14-point lead at the break.
Paltans come back strongly in the second half
The second half saw Arjuna Awardee Ashok Shinde’s Puneri Paltan take the game to the side from the capital of India. The Paltans got the opponents all out for the first time in the 27th minute as their lead was reduced to just 4 points. By the 30th minute, Dabang Delhi were leading 29-26 as we were set for a tense final 10 minutes.
Dabang Delhi were all out once again in the 33rd minute as Puneri Paltan took the lead for the first time after the second minute of the match. With 2 minutes to go, both the teams were tied at 35-a-piece.
Kashiling Adake tied the score with the second last raid of the match and Wazir Singh stepped forward for the final raid of the match with the scores level. The Paltan captain was caught by the brave Delhi defenders as they got their first win of the tournament after a brilliant second half.
The raiders for both teams scored in double digits with Rohit getting 11, Kashiling 12 and Wazir top-scoring with 13 points. Delhi play Bengaluru Bulls in Jaipur next while Puneri Paltan will face the Bulls tomorrow.
Man of the match: Kashiling Adake