Noida: A superlative Dabang Delhi put UP Yoddhas to the sword, as they won 35-25 at the Noida Indoor Stadium in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 match on Saturday. Raider Ashu Malik’s 1 point and defender Ashish’s 5 points were the standout performances for them on the day.
In as much as this was the UP Yoddhas’ home turf it was also Dabang Delhi’s, and in the early going they basked in it. Five minutes into the game Ashu Malik’s Super Raid, the first of the evening put Dabang Delhi KC in front and from thereon over the next few minutes they barely put a foot wrong in the game. Despite a brief resistance led by Surender Gill, Dabang inflicted the first All-Out to take a 13-7 lead.
The half was defined by high-class raiding and some lacklustre defending with both teams logging a mere five tackle points in the half. In Naveen Kumar’s absence, Dabang Delhi’s raiding trio split 13 points between them to keep the lead intact as they went into the break.
The UP Yoddhas silently chipped away at the Dabang Delhi numbers and the lead to put them on the ropes early in the second half. A strong Super Tackle by Yogesh on Pardeep Narwal though saved them the blushes. That tackle also led to UP Yoddhas’ defender Nitesh Kumar being handed a yellow card for ill-discipline, tilting the game back into Delhi’s favour, who extended their lead.
If the first half had been a raiding paradise, the second proved to be one for the defenders to make hay. The UP Yoddhas spent the final five minutes of the game mostly with three players on the mat, desperately trying to cut away at the Dabang Delhi lead.
But for every tackle they made, Delhi matched them perfectly and then came the coup de grace with the final raid of the evening. Malik went in for Delhi knowing that just letting time tick away would confirm the win and yet, with ten seconds left he jumped in, got all three UP Yoddhas players to inflict a second All-Out and take a brilliant win.
–IANS