The Delhi Capitals booked their place in the finals of the UBA Pro Basketball League 2016 after a 78-69 win over Chennai Slam in Game 3 of their semifinal series. In a well-fought match at Hyderabad's Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Delhi centre Ramesh was the star of the show with 17 points and 15 rebounds.
"It was a great performance from us today; we played well together as a team. Whoever comes in the final, Pune or Chennai, we know we are a good team and we will give our 101% to win the title," player of the match Ramesh told Sportskeeda after the match.
The match began with Delhi racing onto a 6-0 lead before Ranbir Singh reduced the arrears with the game's first triple. Sachin and Ajay Pratap were on target for Delhi with four points each before the first timeout was called with the Capitals leading 9-7. After the restart, Karan Pal Singh who put Mumbai in the lead for the first time with a layup. But Ajay Pratap had his share of layups to show and the lead swung back in Delhi's favour; the first quarter ending 15-12 to the Capitals.
In the second quarter, Delhi picked up from where they left off and star of Game 2, Vinay Kaushik, finished off a great run with a layup as the Capitals extended their lead. Delhi went on to dominate with quite some ease as the Challengers struggled to get points on the board.
Gagandeep Singh and Nikhil tried to keep their chase going but Delhi were just too strong. With 03:00 on the clock, the Capitals were leading 37-25. But when the going got tough, Mumbai had to turn to their skipper and ex-Indian international Jagdeep Bains. With 5 points and a couple of rebounds, the big center inspired his team to a late surge before halftime, with Mumbai cutting Delhi's lead to just two points (38-36).
Vinay Kaushik began the third quarter sinking Delhi's first three pointer in style. Ramesh, who had been influential all along winning rebounds and spraying around passes, led Delhi in this quarter with 5 points, which included a beautiful layup. Mumbai's Jagdeep was a physical presence in the paint muscling his way to a couple of baskets. The quarter was heading to a fast and furious end when Ravinder sank a fadeaway triple to thrill the Mumbai fans. However, the quarter ended with Delhi still leading 59-53.
The final quarter began with Delhi seeking to consolidate the lead further and see out the game. The pace was noticeably slow as Delhi controlled the game and having a comfortable lead, the Capitals were looking to reduce the pace. Mumbai struggled to put points on the board, missing many easy baskets. Vinay Kaushik was once again brilliant, combining with Sachin and Ramesh to increase the lead to a big 14 points before the timeout at 1:49. (74-60).
With knockout looming, point guard Prudhwi sank two 3-pointers for Mumbai, but he could not prevent his team from going down. Even when Ravinder also scoring from outside the perimeter, the gap was too big as Delhi finished off the game 78-69 to enter the final.
Delhi Capitals (Ramesh 17pts 15rbs, Vinay Kaushik 16pts, Smithin Setu 13pts) bt Mumbai Challengers (Gagandeep Singh 19pts, Jagdeep Bains 14pts, Ravinder 11pts, Prudhvi Reddy 11pts) 78-69 (15-12, 23-24, 21-17, 19-16)
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