Patna Pirates clinched a thrilling draw against Dabang Delhi, despite trailing for most of the second half of the match in the Pro Kabaddi League on Sunday in Jaipur. Ashu Malik was the top raider of the game for Delhi, picking up 14 points.
For the Pirates, Sachin Tanwar was instrumental in turning things around at the end and scored ten points.
In the first match of the day, it was an attritional battle that was won by Haryana Steelers against Tamil Thalaivas 36-31. Vinay was the star of the day for the Steelers with a super ten, while defender Rahul Sethpal chipped in with five tackle points.
Dabang Delhi’s Malik began things off with a bang, pulling off a super raid in the eighth minute and breaking down the Pirates defence. Manjeet then responded with a super tackle to keep the Pirates in the game.
Soon after, the Pirates were subjected to the first all-out of the game as Delhi raced to a 16-10 lead. Tanwar, the Pirates’ star raider, then shook off his shaky start to make an impact on the game and try and recover the deficit.
Malik however continued his good streak and allowed Delhi to hold on to the six-point lead at half-time.
The Dabang Delhi raider’s prowess continued in the second half as the Pirates were subjected to a second all-out to trail 19-28.
But things soon began to shift in the direction of the three-time champions in the final quarter of the game. A super tackle from Mohit came at the cost of Ashish being issued a yellow card and a suspension for two minutes which reduced Delhi’s number in the last four minutes. This gave the Pirates the confidence to inflict an all-out on Delhi and reduce the gap to four points.
The momentum shifted with less than three minutes to play as Tanwar pulled off a successful raid to make things level at 39-39.
However, both teams then decided to play it safe for the last minute and half, with raiders on both sides opting to run down the clock and secure a point each from the match.
Haryana Steelers beat Tamil Thalaivas
Earlier, the first match of the day began quite evenly with both teams tied at 3-all in the fourth minute.
But K Prapanjan turned things around with a brilliant raid followed by a tackle from Jaideep Dahiya taking out Ajinkya Pawar gave the Steelers the lead at 5-3. Narender’s next raid then helped the Thalaivas to level things again at 8-8.
However, after Vinay’s raid, the Steelers enforced the first all-out of the game to take a massive lead at 17-8.
Chandran Ranjit then pulled off a super raid to take out Thaliavas captain Sagar along with M Abhishek and Nitin Singh, but had to be subbed off for the rest of the game after landing awkwardly on his elbow.
Pawar was then successful in his raid, but the Steelers went into half-time with a 10-point lead at 22-12.
Vinay, who reached the 300-raid point milestone during the match, continued his good form with yet another successful raid in the opening minutes of the second half. Despite the Thalaivas defence taking him out in the 27th minute, the Steelers still maintained their lead at 25-16.
The Thalaivas defence would then end up effecting two super tackles to reduce the deficit and Nitin Singh would pull off a successful raid as well. But the Steelers continued to maintain their lead of 10 points in the 32nd minute.
The Thalaivas defence, especially Sahil Gulia and Mohit, were brilliant in controlling Vinay, who struggled quite a bit to break their stronghold.
Soon after, they managed to inflict the second all-out of the game on the Steelers, but it was too little too late as the Haryana team finished the match, winning 36-31.
