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Bengal Warriors defeated Dabang Delhi 39-34 in the final to win the seventh edition of Pro Kabaddi 2019, played at the EKA Arena by TransStadia in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Naveen Kumar, despite being on the losing end, became the top scorer of the final after garnering a staggering total of 18 raid points. He also won the 'Most Valuable Player of PKL 2019' award.
Mohammad Nabibakhsh emerged as the 'Man of the Match' after contributing 10 points for the Warriors. On the defensive front, Jeeva Kumar collected four tackle points for the Bengal-based franchise.
Dabang Delhi, despite displaying a champion-like performance throughout the season, failed to perform, both defensively and offensively, which resulted in them ending up on the losing end.
Starting 7s
Dabang Delhi K.C: Joginder Narwal (C), Naveen Kumar, Vishal Mane, Anil Kumar, Vijay Malik, Chandran Ranjit, Ravinder Pahal
Bengal Warriors: Mohammad Nabibakhsh (C), Rinku Narwal, Mayur Shivtarkar, K Prapanjan, Jeeva Kumar, Sukesh Hegde, Baldev Singh
Veteran Sukesh Hegde from the Bengal Warriors, having lost the toss to Delhi, went in for the inaugural raid of the final and returned sans any point. Chandran Ranjit then picked up the first point for the team from the capital.
The defense of Delhi, who had the upper hand in the match, didn't let the rivals pick up a point for the first four minutes. Shockingly enough, the first point for the Warriors came in the 5th minute. Soon enough, Delhi inflicted the first all-out of the night on the Warriors just under seven minutes, courtesy an impeccable game.
An incredible dash by the experienced Jeeva Kumar sent young sensation Naveen Kumar to the bench for the first time on the night. Ten minutes into the ultimate clash of the season, Delhi led 12-6 on the scoreboard.
In the absence of Maninder Singh, who suffered an injury in his previous match and was playing the role of Bengal's assistant coach in the finale, the Warriors struggled to accumulate points.
However, they became better as the encounter progressed. And it was their all-out on Delhi that brought them back into the competition. The extremely intense first half concluded on a tie at 17-17.
A power-packed tackle by Mohammad Nabibakhsh kickstarted the second half for the Warriors on an impressive note.
The second half had both teams playing with extreme caution. Delhi conceded a second ill-fated all-out in the 27th minute, which put the Warriors ahead at 25-21.
Naveen Kumar and Nabibakhsh from Delhi and Bengal respectively continued to pick up points for their sides without a break. The former also became the first-ever player to complete his 22nd Super 10 in the league.
As the battle made its way towards the end, the Warriors started dominating Delhi by keeping Naveen Kumar off the mat for most of the time.
With little less than ten minutes left in the final clash, Delhi suffered a third all-out, which made them lag behind by ten points. The match gradually seemed to slip out of their hands.
With just a hundred seconds remaining and a five-point lead to overcome, Delhi seemed to have given up. The raiders of Bengal Warriors undoubtedly wasted time to prevent Delhi from scoring. Despite Kumar's warrior-like efforts to save the drowning ship of Delhi, nothing much changed for them.
Eventually, the final of PKL 2019 saw Bengal Warriors lift their maiden PKL trophy with a 39-34 win over Dabang Delhi.
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