Pro Kabaddi League 2018: Dabang Delhi, Haryana Steelers register wins

Dabang Delhi KC put up a spirited show as they trounced Jaipur Pink Panthers 40-29 in their Pro Kabaddi League match in Mumbai on Sunday.

In the second match of the day, Haryana Steelers defeated U Mumba 35-31 in a closely contested match, where the momentum shifted throughout the encounter.

But in the dying moments of the game, the Haryana team held their nerves to emerge triumphant.

This is U Mumba’s second consecutive loss after their defeat to Gujarat Fortunegiants last night.

In front of a capacity crowd at the NSCI in Worli, Naveen Kumar (10 points), Meraj Sheykh (9 points) and Chandran Ranjit (8 points) emerged as the heroes for the Delhi side.

Joginder Narwal (5 points) was the top-defender for Delhi.

However, it was initially a close contest as Jaipur led 5-3 after the first seven minutes, with some superb defence and tackling.

It soon became 8-3 as their raider Deepak Hooda (15 points) continued his successful raids.

When it seemed that Jaipur was inching ahead, Delhi swung back with a ‘Super Raid’ by Meraj Sheykh, which earned them three points to make it 10-10 and level the scores.

The ‘Super Raid’ seemed to have instilled confidence in the Delhi team as they inflicted an ‘all-out’ and went marginally ahead.

Delhi was on the upsurge as Sheykh again did a successful raid and earned two points.

But then Jaipurs Deepak Hooda earned 2 crucial points for his side to reduce the deficit.

At half-time, Delhi had a slender lead of 20-16.

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After the break, Delhi, with some successful raids and breath-taking tackles, increased its lead to 24-17.

But Jaipur inched back into the game as they reduced the deficit to 21-26, with 12 minutes for the final whistle.

But Delhi always had an upper hand and Chandran Ranjit earned two points to make it 28-21 in their favour.

Then Naveen Kumar inflicted more agony on the opposition as Delhi cruised ahead.

There was no stopping Delhi after that as it inflicted another all-out, the second of the match, to make it 38-23, with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

From there, it was too late for Jaipur to come back into the game, as they slumped to their seventh defeat in nine games.

The Kabaddi action returns on Tuesday with Puneri Paltan taking on Telugu Titans and U Mumba clashing with UP Yodhas.