Kolkata, July 24 (IANS) A breathtaking encounter witnessed Dabang Delhi down Puneri Paltan 38-37 while in another contest, U Mumba beat Bengal Warriors 29-25 in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here on Friday.
With the win, Delhi registered their first win of the season and go fifth while Pune slumped to their third consecutive loss in the league and are last on the leaderboard.
Bengal on the other hand registered their second loss on the trot as Mumba pocketed their fifth consecutive game to be at the top.
In the first game, it was the Paltan who pocketed the first two points in the opening few minutes of the exchange. At one point, they led 4-1.
But the Delhi franchise came back strong as their raider Rohit Kumar Choudhury, who was later adjudged the player-of-the-match, managed to get to the centre line after having touched four Pune defenders in a super raid.
After having turned the tables in their favour, Delhi managed an allout too. Star raider Kashiling Adake then increased his side’s lead further with another super raid which involved three Paltan players.
Delhi — with momentum — were unstoppable as they kept on piling whatever points they could latch onto including successful raids and a brilliant teamwork in defence. They affected another allout to rest at 25-11 at halftime.
After the breather, it was Paltan skipper Wazir Singh who pulled back a few points along with his teammate Pravin Niwale affecting an opposite allout this time. At the 29th minute mark, the score read 28-24 still slightly favouring Delhi.
The last few minutes saw fierce contest kabaddi as both teams refused to budge an inch, but it was Delhi who held their nerve till the end to clinch the game 38-37.
In the second match of the day the home side faced fierce competition against U Mumba who were the runners up last year.
There was nothing to separate the two sides as both defences stood strong.
At the break, Mumba were slightly ahead at 11-9.
The hosts, however, came out fighting like wounded tigers leading 23-16 in the 32nd minute.
But the Mumbai franchise slowly crawled back into game collecting 12 consecutive points to edge ahead.
The points proved crucial as Mumba beat the Warriors 29-25 in the end.
Mumba captain Anup Kumar was adjudged the best raider as he collected nine points in total.