Naveen’s late heroics rescue tie for Dabang Delhi

Four points from Naveen Kumar in the final minute of the game helped Dabang Delhi rescue a 39-39 tie against the Bengal Warriors. Maninder Singh was the star of the show for Bengal, as he finished the game with 16 points. With this tie, Delhi reclaimed second place on the vivo Pro Kabaddi points table.

The Warriors got off to a dream start, as they raced to a 5-2 lead, courtesy of three raid points from Maninder, one from Rohit and a tackle point from Vishal Mane. Maninder’s fourth raid of the night left Delhi with a solitary man on the mat and the Warriors defence pinned him down in the subsequent raid to inflict the game’s first All Out and give their team a 10-6 lead. 

Maninder and Naveen went back-and-forth over the next few minutes, before Delhi’s defence finally managed to bring down the Bengal skipper to cut their team’s deficit to two points. Ashu Malik and Naveen brought parity to the scoreline and reduced the Warriors to a solitary man on the mat, who was left immobile by a sensational Ankle Hold by Joginder Narwal in the subsequent raid, which inflicted an All Out and saw Delhi take the lead.

Abozar Mighani’s Ankle Hold on Vijay was the final action of the half, as the teams headed into the break with Delhi leading 19-18.

Mane’s mighty tackle on Naveen and Maninder’s two-point raid saw the Warriors reclaim the lead. A Super Tackle from Joginder sent Maninder to the bench, but Mighani’s sensational tackle on Vijay revived the raider almost immediately, and the skipper struck again, as he picked up his 10th raid point to leave Delhi with a solitary man on the mat. 

The Warriors sat deep and waited patiently before Ran Singh made his move and pinned down Neeraj Narwal to inflict an All Out on Delhi to help his side take a three-point lead.

Delhi responded to the All Out with four unanswered points, which reduced the Warriors to just three players on the mat. But the trio held the fort as they Super Tackled Naveen, before Maninder picked up two raid points in the same raid to help the Warriors reclaim their three-point advantage. 

A tackle point from Delhi’s defence revived Naveen and the raider cut the deficit to one, but Maninder helped the Warriors push it back up to two. Naveen then delivered a Super Raid to push Delhi ahead on the scoreboard, but a two-point raid from Rohit saw Bengal take the lead with less than 40 seconds left on the clock. 

But Naveen came through yet again for Delhi, as he picked up his 16th raid point of the night to help bring parity to the scoreline and rescue a tie for Delhi.

Top Performers

Bengal Warriors

Best Raider – Maninder Singh (16 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Amit Nirwal (3 Tackle Points)

Dabang Delhi

Best Raider – Naveen Kumar (16 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Joginder Narwal (3 Tackle Points)