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Dabang Delhi became the first team to qualify for the Pro Kabaddi 2019 final after thrashing Bengaluru Bulls in an intriguing encounter. They put up a smashing game and emerged victorious.
Pawan Sehrawat, despite being on the losing end, picked up a massive total of 18 points for the Bulls. Naveen Kumar sealed the deal for the Delhi-based franchise after adding 15 raid points to his name. On the defensive front, Anil Kumar from Delhi gathered four tackle points and contributed heavily to the winning side.
Starting 7s
Dabang Delhi K.C: Naveen Kumar, Vishal Mane, Anil Kumar, Vijay Malik, Chandran Ranjit, Ravinder Pahal, Joginder Narwal
Bengaluru Bulls: Pawan Sehrawat, Mahender Singh, Rohit Kumar, Ankit, Sumit Singh, Saurabh Nandal, Amit Sheoran
Chandran Ranjit from Delhi started off the night with a mind-blowing two-pointer, sending Saurabh Nandal and Mahender Singh off the mat. The following raid saw hi-flyer Pawan Sehrawat open the night for the defending champions with a bonus point.
In the fourth minute itself, the table-toppers inflicted a mind-blowing all-out on the Bulls and caught hold of the match a with 9-3 lead. Bangalore seemed to struggle in both offence and defence since the very first minute.
However, a cracking super-raid by Sehrawat brought the massive score difference down to just four points. Naveen, well known for being unstoppable, was nothing less than excellent since his very first raid.
Soon enough, the fierce clash took another turn after the Bulls conceded a second unfortunate all-out under 13 mere minutes. Nobody was able to pick up significant points for the Bengaluru-based franchise.
Young prodigy Naveen Kumar, who was spitting fire, completed his 20th consecutive super-ten in the very 15th minute. With each passing second, the Delhi-based franchise kept on increasing their lead.
The first tackle point for the Bulls came in the 17th minute as the defenders inflicted a super-tackle on Naveen Kumar. A successful first half saw Delhi hold the edge in the encounter with a scoreline of 26-18.
A splendid tackle by Vishal Mane kick-started the second half for Delhi on a smashing note. However, the Bulls got their revenge with a super-tackle on Naveen by Mahender Singh.
Pawan Sehrawat reached the ten-point mark, given he was the solitary contributor from the Bulls. Even his team started making a gradual comeback by reducing Delhi's lead.
Bangalore's inability to retain Pawan threw them in deeper trouble. Their fate seemed to be sealed as no other player was able to make a mark from the hapless Bulls.
With just four minutes left, the Bulls trailed 28-35. The rhythmic defense of Delhi directed yet another all-out on the opponents and nearly won the match.
With not more than two minutes left, Pawan still strived hard to make a comeback without any luck.
Eventually, the intense match came to an end as Dabang Delhi became the first team to qualify for the PKL 2019 final after defeating the defending champions Bengaluru Bulls with a scoreline of 44-38.
When asked about the performance of his team during the post-match conference, Pawan was visibly disappointed.
"Our team did not fight at all. I did not see any efforts from my team throughout the match. I was the only one who played tonight. The defense made many mistakes tonight and hence we lost the golden chance to enter the finals. It didn't look like we were playing the semi-finals. There, unfortunately, was no team effort tonight. Well, Dabang Delhi played really well."
After qualifying for the finals for the first time in the history of the league, the coach of Delhi was ecstatic.
"I'll start by congratulating the whole squad and Joginder Narwal for the brilliant job. The whole team deserves an infinite amount of praise. Naveen specifically, was amazing tonight and I am sure that he'll win many medals for our country."
Captain Joginder Narwal also left a sweet message for the fans of Dabang Delhi all across the country.
"Ever since we have started playing kabaddi, we have received so much love and support from the fans, which can't even be expressed in words. You guys made Naveen Express what he is today. Thank you very much!"
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