Pro Kabaddi 9 Highlights: Naveen Kumar’s Dabang Delhi prevails : 44-42 vs UP Yoddhas in nervy high scorer, Surender’s 21-point effort in vain

SURENDER GILL: 21 points in 24 raids.

Dabang Delhi seals third win in three games.

Naveen Kumar comes in for the final raid. Runs the clock down and Krishan Kumar Hooda is praying to every god he knows for this victory. Remarkable turnaround!

Pardeep Narwal comes in to raid in what looks like the final raid of the game. Pardeep looks like he’s managed a touch with an advanced tackle coming his way. BUT THERE’S A TWIST. Pardeep has stepped into the lobby. MISTAKE MISTAKE.

Surender Gill tries a back kick but can’t escape. Tackled. Sent to the bench

Manjeet gets a bonus plus a point to bring back Naveen on the mat. With just under 1.5 minutes left on the mat. UP Yoddhas review. Recaps show UP Yoddhas might have just wasted their review in desperation here. REVIEW UNSUCCESSFUL

UP Yoddhas defence shines again. Durgesh gets hold on Ashu’s ankles and scores are level.

Naveen Kumar is off the mat as its time for a timeout.

Delhi: 17

UP: 6

Pardeep is caught in quicksand towards the left. Vijay coming in with the tackle

Manjeet dives and gets a touch on Ashu Singh to send him to the bench

Delhi’s defence is being a little more fearless around Surender. Big lunging ankle hold from Vishal on Surender and he gets help from Krishan Dhull on the other end. Nicely done

Vijay also falls to Surender Gill. That left corner is his place. Surender Gill’s 19th raid point of the night

UP’s defence pushes out Manjeet

11 point deficit in first half. Delhi leads now. Is this Puneri Paltan vs Bengaluru Bulls all over again?

Naveen gets Nitesh, who comes in unsure of what the strategy is . Easy for Naveen to swat him aside and run to the midline

Pardeep Narwal - 7 points

Naveen Kumar - 12 points

Surender Gill - 18 points. DAMN

A few quick points pass us here in this game. Bottomline: Delhi has clawed its way back into this game, reducing a 11-point deficit to a 2 point deficit. That’s really something!

Naveen jumps over the defender, who can’t manage a touch on him but steals a point for himself. Nitesh Kumar the man who is foxed there. The stats say he jumped over 5.5 ft to get over the defender. WOW

Surender Gill almost makes it to the midline but the Delhi defense pulls him back in the nick of time.

Manjeet back on the mat as Ashu Malik manages a two-point raid. Get’s Shubham and Ashu (yes, his namesake). Both covers out for UP Yoddhas.

Manjeet goes about business as usual as he takes out a defender on the left while Pardeep Narwal takes out Manjeet .

Surender Gill gets a bonus point but Delhi pulls off the all-out finally. Surender is tall and almost makes it through but Ravi Kumar pulls him back enough to send UP packing

Naveen gets just one. He is bummed at not going for the other, but why isn’t he?

Bonus plus running hand touch on Ravi by Surender Gill. What a brilliant night he’s having!

Naveen gets Nitin Tomar

Bonus plus two points for Surender Gill as he revives more folks in his side. Delhi missing out opportunities

Naveen has removed Gurdeep, well can’t say removed, because Gurdeep stepped out. Why didn’t Naveen see this? He could have sorted out the other defender and wiped them out!

Sandeep Dhull is taken out. Vijay comes in. Surender Gill gets the bonus point

UP Yoddhas undoubtedly have the best defense in the league. No leaks at all early on as they keep Naveen Kumar quiet. Plugging him allows them to snuff out any possibility of momentum for this side. Manjeet has been good and despite both struggling, we see that Manjeet is an able second raider for Naveen. Surender Gill meanwhile has had another brilliant game with another super 10 to his name. Pardeep has been good today too despite a slowish start to his evening. Delhi’s defence has struggled. UP’s success rate is 62.5 per cent in this first half while Delhi stands at an abysmal 17.65 per cent. Too much of a mismatch. UP’s raiding efficacy too has been twice that of Delhi. UP had 14 successul raids while Delhi managed just 7 successful raids, both in 20 attempts each.

Manjeet looks like he’s pulled off a remarkable super raid here but the referee believes raider is out. We see five men on Manjeet and his finger has just about grazed the midlinme. Will the umpire give it to him? Delhi reviews and gets the super raid! FOUR POINTS TO DABANG DELHI. At the stroke of half time. Look at what that’s done for the lead and the men on court! Remarkable!

Bonus point for Surender Gill and here’s his super 10.

Why is Sandeep Dhull still on the mat? He is leaking points as Surender Gill has made him his bunny

Naveen Kumar looked angry. He takes out Nitin Tomar as he gets a bonus too . Two points

Pardeep Narwal’s Dubki fails. Vishal holds him back and gets a point for Delhi

13- DELHI

2- UP

A couple of successful raids for both sides. But a massive 11-point lead in UP’s favour

Okay, so I am as confused as you. We don’t exactly know why the previous all out was rescinded but Sumit makes amends in the next few minutes. So we have a replay. In that previous passage, Sumit stepped out of bounds and was involved in the tackle so his all out attempt would not have stood.

Raider deemed safe so the all out does not happen. A bonus is given to Delhi as wel

Sumit viciously takes down Naveen to effect the ALL OUT. Delhi has been wiped out twice in one half. No match for UP Yoddhas’ defense.

Naveen gets a quick bonus point while Surender Gill sends out Krishan

UP’s unsuccessful tackle - 1

Delhi’s: 7

Nitesh Kumar first takes out Ashu Malik and then Pardeep Narwal cartwheels to remove Vishal, Ravi Kumar. Delhi had no idea where Pardeep was going. WOW!

Surender Gill removes Manjeet. How easy is this for UP?

Sandeep Dhul gifts Surender Gill an inadvertent toe touch

Naveen has another bonus point to his name. Smart play

Naveen gets a bonus. Pardeep has no luck and is brought down by Vishal

Dabang Delhi gets a bonus plus one point while UP also gets one. That still leaves Naveen on court. Pardeep Narwal goes in to raid and Naveen surrenders. Quite the photo op this. Is this symbolic if how this game will go?

Surender takes out Krishan Dhull. Delhi staring an all-out in the face

Manjeet is brought down buy Ashu Singh with help from 3-4 of his teammates.

Vishal ends up hastily reaching out for Surender Gill anD gives him a point for no reason

Ashu Singh does so well to bring down Ashu Malik. This is one of if not the best defence in the league at the moment.

Surender Gill removes Sandeep Dhull. Too easy on that left side

We were billing this to be Pardeep vs Naveen, looks like the duo will spend time on the bench together

Krishan Dhull has made the right corner his own as he gets an ankle hold and brings down Pardeep with some help from his teammates

Manjeet dives and gets a massive touch on Ashu Singh.

Surender Gill draws first blood. Nice to see him being propped up as the main raider

UP Yoddhas have chosen court. Dabang Delhi will raid first

UP Yoddhas: Pardeep Narwal, Ashu Singh, Shubham Kumar, Surender Gill, Nitin Tomar, Nitesh Kumar, Sumit

Dabang Delhi: Naveen Kumar, Ravi Kumar, Vishal, Manjeet, Ashu Malik, Krishan, Sandeep Dhull

Dabang Delhi K.C., though, will be a tough opponent for U.P. Yoddhas to overcome. The Season 8 champions are unbeaten after two games and will be brimming with confidence heading into their match on Wednesday. They have registered big wins in their first two games and will back themselves to get a third successive win, especially with captain Naveen Kumar looking in menacing form. He’s scored 28 raid points so far and will be a cause of concern for opposition defenders. One teammate that has supported Naveen Kumar while raiding for Dabang Delhi K.C. is Ashu Malik, who has 11 raid points from two games. The Season 8 champions’ defence, meanwhile, has looked formidable with Sandeep Dhull, Vishal and Ravi Kumar all chipping in. However, their best defender this season has been young Krishan, who has 11 tackle points to his name.

After a win in their season opener, U.P. Yoddhas suffered a loss in their last match and they will be eager to return to winning ways when they take on Dabang Delhi K.C. in Match 15 of vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 9. The Yoddhas’ main raiders Pardeep Narwal and Surender Gill couldn’t quite get going in their last game and have scored 12 raid points each from their two matches this season. Pardeep and Gill playing at their best is crucial to the Yoddhas’ title prospects and they will be looking to deliver much-improved displays when they square off against the defending champions. On the defensive front, they possess several solid options like Sumit, Nitesh Kumar and Shubham Kumar. However, one of their best defenders this season has been Ashu Singh, who has scored eight tackle points, and he’ll be someone to watch out for.

Matches: 7 | UP: 5 | Delhi: 2 | Tie: 0

PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR:

UP Yoddhas: Pardeep Narwal

Dabang Delhi: Manjeet

UP YODDHAS

Raiders: Pardeep Narwal, Surender Gill, Nitin Tomar, James Namaba Kamweti, Rathan K, Gulveer Singh, Durgesh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Rohit Tomar, Aman, Mahipal, Rathan K

Defenders: Nitesh Kumar, Abozar Mohajer Mighani, Shubham Kumar, Babu Murugasan, Jaideep, Sumit, Ashu Singh

All-Rounders: Nehal Desai, Nitin Panwar, Gurdeep

DABANG DELHI

Raiders: Naveen Kumar, Manjeet, Ashu Malik, Ashish Narwal, Suraj Panwar

Defenders: Ravi Kumar, Sandeep Dhull, Amit Hooda, Vishal, Anil Kumar, Monu, Dipak, Krishan, Vinay Kumar, Vijay, Mohammad Liton Ali, Aakash

All-rounders: Vijay, Tejas Patil, Reza Katoulinezhad

Pro Kabaddi Season 9 will be telecast live on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar from 8:30 PM onwards on Wednesday.