Puneri Paltan’s late rally falls just short as Dabang Delhi K.C. win a thriller

A stellar second-half performance from Puneri Paltan gave Match 35 a grandstand finish, but it was Dabang Delhi K.C. who took the victory by a scoreline of 32-30 in a nail-biting encounter at the EKA Arena by TransStadia in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Naveen Kumar starred yet again and scored his fourth Super 10 of the season, helping Dabang Delhi K.C. extend their lead to six points at the top of the VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 7 standings.

Chandran Ranjit opened the scoring in style with a two-point raid but the returning Nitin Tomar and skipper Surjeet Singh levelled the scores for Puneri Paltan. Once Naveen Kumar sent Surjeet to the bench Dabang Delhi K.C. started to get a foothold in the contest.

A point each from Ravinder Pahal and Naveen put Dabang Delhi K.C. up by three but a two-point raid from Pankaj Mohite cut the deficit down to one. However, two successful raids on the trot split by a Vishal Mane tackle on Manjeet helped Dabang Delhi K.C. inflict the game’s first All-Out on Puneri Paltan and take a six-point lead in the contest.

The next ten points were evenly split between the two teams. Naveen and Ranjit contributed for Dabang Delhi K.C. and for Puneri Paltan, it was Tomar, Manjeet and Mohite who added points. Naveen added two more points to his tally over the final few minutes of the half as the teams headed into the break with Dabang Delhi K.C. leading 19-11.

Puneri Paltan started the second half well and managed to cut down Dabang Delhi K.C.’s lead to six, but a couple of successful raids from the Ranjit ensured that his team maintained their lead. A two-point raid from Tomar followed by a Super Tackle by Puneri Paltan’s defence then helped them cut the deficit down.

Dabang Delhi K.C. scored two unanswered points to push the lead back up but Puneri Paltan responded by scoring three on the trot to get within a point of their opponent’s score with time left for just one more raid. Manjeet went in for the buzzer raid but accidentally stepped into the lobby, giving Dabang Delhi K.C. a technical point which confirmed their victory.

Top Performers:

Dabang Delhi K.C. –

Top Raider – Naveen Kumar (11 Raid Points)

Top Defender – Ravinder Pahal (3 Tackle Points)

Puneri Paltan –

Top Raider – Nitin Tomar (8 Raid Points)

Top Defender – Girish Maruti Ernak (4 Tackle Points)