Pro Kabaddi PKL 8: Dabang Delhi crushes Gujarat Giants 41-22, tops table

Dabang Delhi crushed Gujarat Giants 41-22 with a balanced performance in Pro Kabaddi League 8 (PKL 8) in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Dabang Delhi K.C. defender Manjeet Chhillar blocks a raid from Gujarat Giants' Rakesh Narwal in a Pro Kabaddi League 8 match on Saturday.

Dabang Delhi crushed Gujarat Giants 41-22 with a balanced performance in Pro Kabaddi League 8 (PKL 8) in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Defenders Manjeet Chhillar and Krishan scored High 5s for the Delhi side which moved to the top of the points table with the result. Vijay (8 points) and Neeraj Narwal (4 points) contributed to the raiding points aas the team continued to be without star raider Naveen Kumar.

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Dabang Delhi K.C. started the match on the front foot with its much-maligned defence showing aggressive intent. Captain Joginder Narwal was back in the left corner position and that seemed to have motivated the senior pros in the team. Sandeep Narwal and Manjeet Chhillar looked confident in the defence along with youngster Krishan. Vijay also continued to impress in the lead raider role and picked up a three-point Super Raid in the 7th minute.

A Super Tackle by Rakesh Narwal wasn’t enough for Giants to prevent an All Out in the 11th minute. The Giants also struggled in their attack. Their only consistent raider Rakesh S. didn’t take up the bulk of the raiding duties surprisingly. The first half ended 22-11 with Delhi in a comfortable lead.

Delhi continued to dominate the mat after the interval. Gujarat raiders could only muster two raid points in the first 10 minutes as Delhi inflicted another All Out to open a 16-point lead. Delhi’s raiders didn’t have to do anything extraordinary as the unsure Giants defence kept gifting them points.

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Gujarat coach Manpreet Singh tried 5 raiders - Pardeep Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Rakesh Narwal, Rakesh S and Bhuvneshwar Gaur - but nobody could find a way past the Delhi defence. Pardeep’s raids helped Gujarat smell a potential All Out, but Delhi produced two consecutive Super Tackles. Krishan and Manjeet Chhillar clinched their High 5s for Delhi as the team maintained a 15-point lead going into the last five minutes.

Sandeep Narwal got a two-minute suspension for a yellow card, but Gujarat couldn’t challenge Delhi in the dying minutes. The defeat means Gujarat continues to stay at 11th in the points table.