Pune’s astounding comeback keeps Delhi winless at home

Puneri Paltan made an amazing comeback in the second half to win 34-29 and hand Dabang Delhi K.C. their second straight home loss at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex on Saturday. Deepak Hooda’s Super 10 coupled with Girish Maruti Ernak and Monu’s High 5s cut Delhi’s first home victory attempt short.

Delhi started with intent picking up quick raid points in the first couple of minutes, while also managing to take out their biggest threat Sandeep Narwal twice. On the other hand, Hooda picked up Pune’s first point in the 5th minute through a successful raid as the first quarter ended 8-4 in Delhi’s favour.

In the last 10 minutes of the first half, Narwal came back strongly to pick up two consecutive raid points and reduce the deficit. However, Meraj Sheykh and Rohit Baliyan continued their attacking onslaught. A two-point raid from Sheykh ensured Delhi entered the breather leading 14-8.

Pune entered the second half breathing fire. Within two minutes they pulled off two super tackles on Delhi’s main raiders Sheykh and Baliyan to level the scores. Rajesh Mondal also picked up back-to-back two-point raids which led to Delhi’s first All-Out of the match in the 27th minute, with Pune now leading 21-15. Pune however, were in no mood to slow down. Hooda handed Delhi their second All-Out shortly after, courtesy of a fabulous 4-point super raid to help Pune take a massive 30-16 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Baliyan and Abolfazl Maghsodlou tried to pull back Delhi into the match through successful raids that handed Pune an All-Out in the 37th minute and narrowed the deficit to six points. However, Pune held their ground in the dying minutes to hand Delhi their second straight home loss this season.

Check out our snapshots from this match here.