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In the early moments of the match between Jaipur Pink Panthers and Dabang Delhi on Saturday night, when the game was beginning to get evenly poised, raider K Selvamani suffered an injury that forced him out of the match. The injury looked bad as the raider grimaced in pain and raised concerns about the further participation of the man from Tamil Nadu in the Pro Kabaddi League.
The good news, however, is the injury sustained by Selvamani didn't turn out to be much serious as it looked. Talking to Sportskeeda, Jaipur Pink Panthers coach Balwan Singh informed that Selvamani didn't injure his knee or ankle but 'somewhere else', hinting at a twist to his groin, and should be able to recover before the team's next game against Puneri Paltan which is on August 10.
Also read: As it happened: Dabang Delhi defeat Jaipur Pink Panthers in opener
Selvamani and Jaipur's cause has been helped by the fact that unlike the other teams, there is a considerable amount of gap between the franchise's first and second match and will give enough time to the raider to get back on his legs.
Ultimately, the injury to Selvamani turned out to be the turning point of the match as the Jaipur Pink Panthers couldn't mount a late challenge and allowed Dabang Delhi to run away with the match that eventually finished with a close score line of 30-26. Selvamani, playing against his former franchise in the first match of the season, had earlier got his team two raid points and looked set for more when the injury forced his stay on the mat to be cut short.
Coach Balwan Singh rued the loss of the raider in the all important first match. He said, "We were unlucky we lost Selvamani early on in the game. He is our main raider alongside Jasvir. I think if we had him, we would have won the match." He added, "He is one of the best and the youngest raiders we have and the team suffered a lot without him."
The injury to Selvamani had other repercussions also as Panthers captain and all rounder Manjeet Chillar failed to re-energise his forces after the setback and, more importantly, looked off colour himself as he tried to fill in the injured Selvamani's raiding shoes. If the Pink Panthers have to repeat their first season heroics, it is important for them to develop greater depth in their squad and not be deflated by the sudden injuries to their main men.
