Bengaluru, (Asian independent) A collective effort from Dabang Delhi KC helped them beat Telugu Titans 40-32 in the Vivo Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 here on Friday. With the second-place finish already confirmed, Delhi were relaxed on the mat and gave their youngsters a chance to experience the limelight.
The likes of Neeraj Narwal and Manjeet had a great outing and ensured the Titans never really had a chance to cause an upset. Titans’ disappointing season came to an end with just 1 win in 22 matches. Ankit Beniwal scored 10 points for the Titans who will now need to rebuild the squad in the summer.
Telugu Titans started the match on the front foot with their raiders Rajnish, Adarsh and Ankit Beniwal chipping in with points. They had Delhi down to three men on the mat by the 5th minute but Manjeet Chhillar produced a Super Tackle to kickstart a Delhi comeback. Raider Ashu Malik and all-rounder Vijay found errors in the Telugu defence with a few pacy raids.
Delhi played with the confidence of a side guaranteed of a Top-2 finish in the league. And they got an ALL OUT with 2 minutes to half time to widen their lead to 8 points. The Titans kept trying to invoke errors from the Delhi defence despite the ALL OUT. At the interval, the scores were 19-14 in Delhi’s favour.
There was no urgency on the mat with both teams well aware of their destiny. The Titans were out of the playoff fight while at the other end Delhi knew the 2nd place was fixed. Young raiders Manjeet and Ashu Malik carried out the attacks for Dabang as they slowed the pace of the match. Titan’s left-corner Muhammed Shiyas picked a High 5 after two Super Tackles to stop an ALL OUT. The scores were 27-20 with 10 minutes remaining.
Neeraj Narwal’s 2-point raid initiated Delhi’s push for a second ALL OUT. They eventually clinched it with 5 minutes remaining to once again open the lead to 10 points. Delhi’s coach Krishan Kumar Hooda made a lot of changes to his squad to preserve his top players from injuries. The players combined to ensure there were no hiccups in the final minutes.
