Dabang Delhi edge out Jaipur Pink Panthers in Pro Kabaddi, Patna Pirates win
Dabang Delhi skipper Meraj Sheykh led from the front and marshaled his resources brilliantly as his team began their Pro Kabaddi League campaign with a victory over Jaipur Pink Panthers
Dabang Delhi eked out a narrow 30-26 win over Jaipur Pink Panthers in a Pro Kabaddi League match, in Hyderabad on Friday.
Dabang Delhi skipper Meraj Sheykh led from the front and marshaled his resources brilliantly as his team began the campaign with a victory.
A disappointing second half performance by Jaipur Pink Panthers led to their downfall.
Sheykh scored seven points whereas Nilesh Shinde scored a high five in defence.
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Delhi opened their account in the second minute with a tackle point and followed it up with a bonus to lead 2-0 after three minutes.
Jaipur had to wait till the fourth minute to score their first point as Manjeet Chhillar made a tackle.
Selvamani scored a raid point to level the score at 3-3 in the sixth minute.
Delhi skipper Sheykh struggled in the opening minutes of the first half as his team trailed 3-5 after eight minutes.
Jasvir scored with a two-point raid in the 10th minute to give Jaipur 7-4 lead. Jasvir scored two more in the next minute as Jaipur inflicted the first all out of the match to lead 11-4 after 11 minutes.
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Delhi scored with a tackle point in the 14th minute as they trailed 5-14.
Delhi raiders struggled in the first half as they managed to score just two points in 15 minutes.
Sheykh scored his first point in the 19th minute as Delhi ended the first half trailing 9-16.
Delhi began the second half with a bang as they inflicted an all out in the 21st minute to trail 13-16.
It was all Dabang Delhi in the first five minutes of the second half as they trailed 16-17.
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They leveled the match at 18-18 in the 28th minute.
With 10 minutes left in the match, both teams traded two-point raids as Delhi led 21-20.
Sheyky then scored a raid point to give Delhi a slender one-point lead after 24 minutes.
Delhi piled on the pressure on Jaipur as they inflicted the second all out to lead 27-21.
The side from the national capital held their cool under pressure in the last few minutes of the match to pocket the tie.
Patna Pirates edge out Telugu Titans
Defending champions Patna Pirates, meanwhile, defeated Telugu Titans 35-29 to demonstrate their title credentials.
Patna skipper Pardeep Narwal led from the front with 15 raid points to lead his side to victory in Hyderabad.
Both teams managed to notch one all out each in a close match in Hyderabad.