Pune: Jaipur Pink Panthers held off a late resurgence from Dabang Delhi K.C. in a Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 encounter to win 45-40 in a thriller at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, here on Friday.
The Pink Panthers’ Arjun Deshwal was at the forefront of their victory grabbing 16 points, while veteran raider Rahul Chaudhari scored 6 points that took him to 1000 raid points in the Pro Kabaddi League.
Arjun Deshwal ran rampant and was instrumental in inflicting the first All Out of the game, with a Super Raid that caught out Ashu Malik, Ravi Kumar, and Manjeet. At the other end of the mat, the Pink Panthers’ defence also held strong and ensured Naveen Kumar didn’t get too many freebies on his raids.
With the Pink Panthers storming into a massive lead, it took brave defending from Delhi to rally together. Vishal’s Super Tackle on Rahul Chaudhari, helped them prevent a second all-out, and not long after Ashu Malik and Vishal came together to do the trick again, to reduce the margin to 19-15.
However, the Pink Panthers inflicted a second All Out in the last few minutes of the first half to extend their lead to 26-18. They went into the break leading 28-19.
The Pink Panthers did not let up one bit in the second half, Rahul Chaudhari rolling through the Delhi defence while his own team’s defence was brilliant on the mat.
Their ability to restrict Naveen Kumar was key to their game plan. They inflicted another All Out in the second half to surge into a huge lead.
With two minutes left though, Naveen came into his own, his Super Raid catching out Abhishek KS, Rahul Chaudhari, and Sunil Kumar and reducing the Pink Panthers to just one player on the mat.
On the very next raid, Delhi inflicted an All Out of their own to reduce the lead to eight points. In the end, Delhi had left it too late, crashing to their sixth straight defeat, as the Pink Panthers got the win and ended their losing streak.
–IANS