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The Haryana Steelers capped of their home leg with a win by clinching the match against Dabang Delhi 34-31 in a close fought encounter. They have finished their home leg with 11 points courtesy two wins and four loses.
With this win, they finally managed to break their four-match losing streak that had raised serious concerns about their skill and mental fortitude.
Led by a dominant display by their defense, which had been the primary cause of their past losses, the Steelers' raiders too contributed to showcasing an all-round team performance.
Parveen continued from where he had left off last night and scored a High-5 with his five impressive tackle points, including a terrific super-tackle. Naveen, Mayur Shivtarkar, and Kuldeep Singh too contributed with two tackle points apiece.
Leading their attack was Vikas Kandola with his nine raid points which included several multi-point raids especially at decisive junctures of the game.
Their captain, Monu Goyat was effective with his seven raid points and gained the valuable confidence to take his game to the next level in the Steelers' upcoming matches.
The interesting thing to note was that the Steelers made no substitutions throughout the game which was a great move on behalf of the coaches and the captain in order to display their faith in the starting 7 and give them enough time on the mat to improve their coordination and team play.
The Dabangs, on the other hand, didn't have a bad game as such, but just couldn't clinch the opportunities at the right moments.
They were always in striking distance and were even leading 19-15 around three minutes into the second half, but a few unsuccessful raids then a super-raid by Vikas Kandola and finally the all-out, took the lead, the momentum, and therefore the game away from them.
The second half decision of bringing in Shabeer Bapu was where the Dabang lost the game, as Shabeer was miserable on his raids and managed just a solitary point from his five attempted raids.
This along with the fact that their in-form raiders Chandran Ranjit (eight points) and Pawan Kadian (seven points) had to spend a lot of time off the court was what led to the sub-par performance of Delhi's raiding unit on the night.
Meraj Sheykh failed to leave much of an impact on to the match as he could manage just two points from his six raids and two attempted tackles.
The defense played well with Ravinder Pahal getting yet another High-5, and Joginder Narwal contributing with four tackle points.
The Dabangs will be next seen in action against the Bengal Warriors on Sunday, the 21st in the Inter-Zone Challenge Week, while the Steelers' will play against the Bengaluru Bulls on the 24th in Pune.
