Haryana roll over Delhi to go top of Zone A

Dabang Delhi K.C.’s poor home run continued as they fell to their third straight home loss against the mighty Haryana Steelers at Thyagaraj Sports Complex on Sunday, with the scoreline reading 42-24 in the favour of the latter. Rakesh Singh Kumar (7 points in total) and Surender Nada picked up High 5s, while Deepak Kumar Dahiya finished with 6 points to nullify Delhi’s paltry fightback.

Haryana started with flair, living up to expectations completely. Dahiya showcased his brilliance from the outset by taking out Nilesh Shinde in his first raid. He and Wazir Singh combined to reduce Delhi to two men on the mat. Soon, the hosts fell to their first All-Out of the match in the 7th minute, with Haryana taking an 11-5 lead by the end of the first quarter.

The next quarter also saw a repetition of Haryana’s dominance. Their defence and attack combined beautifully to hand Delhi their second All-Out in the 15th minute and take a 19-7 lead. On the other hand, Delhi picked up their first tackle point as late as the 16th minute through substitute Satpal. Haryana, however, continued their onslaught with Prashanth Kumar Rai’s back-to-back successful raids bringing an end to the first half as the visitors led 23-9.

Entering the second half with a 14-point deficit, Delhi started their fightback through Satpal who picked up two consecutive super tackles on Dahiya to reduce the difference and reach his High 5. This, however, did not affect Haryana’s tempo as they again managed to initiate the third All-Out of the match on Delhi to take a massive 17-point lead by the end of the third quarter. Rakesh also picked up his High 5 in the process.

Meraj Sheykh tried to pull his team together in the last 10 minutes by pulling off successful raids and tackles but Haryana were undeterred. They slowed down the pace of the game by attacking only in do-or-die raids and letting their stellar defence do their talking. With a super tackle on Anand Patil and a two-point raid by substitute David Mosambayi, Haryana ended the match with a thumping 18-point win and went past Gujarat Fortunegiants to take the summit in Zone A.

Check out our snapshots from this match here.