The first tie of the 2024-25 Pro Kabaddi League came in the match between Bengal Warriorz and U Mumba which ended 31-31, while Dabang Delhi came from behind to beat Telugu Titans 41-37 GMCB Indoor Stadium, in Gachibowli, in Hyderabad on Saturday.
The Bengal Warriorz made a quick start with Maninder Singh causing the most problems for the U Mumba side, who were trailing in the early exchanges. However, Manjeet helped U Mumba bring the contest to level terms, even though the Bengal Warriorz looked solid in defence.
It was a tight contest right from the beginning, and both sides had trouble holding onto a lead. For the Bengal Warriorz, Fazel Atrachali, Maninder Singh and Sushil Kambrekar were doing most of the heavy lifting early on, and at the 10-minute mark they led by 1-point.
As the first half progressed, Maninder continued to rake in the points, which helped the Bengal Warriorz stay ahead of their opponents. With just under 5 minutes to go in the half, young Sushil Kambrekar inflicted an all-out on the U Mumba, which helped the Bengal Warriorz further extend the lead. At the half-time interval, the Bengal Warriorz led 20-13.
After the break, the Bengal Warriorz kept the U Mumba side at bay.
Led by Fazel Atrachali, the Bengal Warriorz defence wore a compact look and weren’t letting anything pass by. Meanwhile, the combination of Maninder and Sushil Kambrekar were doing well in attack. But just as the half-hour mark came by in the contest, the U Mumba side started to mount quite a comeback. With 10 minutes in the game, the Bengal Warriorz led by 2 points, and it was getting closer than Fazel and co would have wanted.
In the final phase of play, Fazel led the defence brilliantly but could not prevent Manjeet from inflicting an all-out on the Bengal Warriorz, which kick-started the U Mumba comeback.
Going into the final minute, U Mumba had a 1-point lead but the Bengal Warriorz fought back to bring it back to level terms. Eventually, the very well contested match finished as a tie. For U Mumba, Manjeet and Sombir were the stars, while Maninder Singh and Mayur Kadam were the pick of the players for the Bengal Warriorz.
The Dabang Delhi K.C. were out of the blocks very quickly with Naveen Kumar and Ashu Malik picking up some early points. For the Telugu Titans, who were being cheered on by the home crowd, it was Ashish Narwal and Pawan Sehrawat with the early points. But it was the Dabang Delhi K.C. who led the contest after the initial exchanges.
With the game reaching the 10-minute mark, Pawan Sehrawat landed a couple of Super Raids which helped the Telugu Titans storm into the lead. The Telugu Titans at this point had a slender 1-point lead, and the whole stadium cheering them on.
As the half wore on, the Telugu Titans cranked up the style a couple of notches, and the high-flyer Pawan Sehrawat was leading the charge. He landed an all-out on the Dabang Delhi K.C. just before the break, to give the Telugu Titans a 20-15 lead at the half-time break. Pawan, who was looking very dangerous, had completed his Super 10 in the first half as well.
The second half saw Dabang Delhi K.C. mount a comeback right from the starting and within the first few minutes they brought the scores back on level terms.
Early in the second half, Ashu Malik also reached the 10-point mark for Dabang Delhi K.C., while the Naveen Express was also shifting gears. The Telugu Titans’ lead had been wiped out within the first phase of the second half, as the Dabang Delhi K.C. side had wrestled the momentum away from them.
Naveen also completed his Super 10 before the half-hour mark and Dabang Delhi K.C. went into the final 10 minutes of the game with a 6-point lead to boast off.
From then on, the Dabang Delhi K.C. decided to consolidate their lead and defended well to keep the Telugu Titans at bay. In the final minutes, Dabang Delhi K.C. inflicted an all-out on the Telugu Titans, which all but killed off any hopes of a comeback for the home team. Eventually, the Dabang Delhi side walked off winners in what was a very well contested game.
