Meraj Sheykh put in a fine show to guide Dabang Delhi to a convincing 48-35 win over Jaipur Pink Panthers in a Pro Kabaddi League in New Delhi Friday. It was a solid performance from Delhi as Meraj Sheykh (15 points), Naveen Kumar, (9 points) and Chandran Ranjit (9 points) combined to score 33 points.
Jaipur Pink Panthers never recovered from a slow start and just couldn’t handle the intensity of Delhi’s performance. Deepak Hooda produced a terrific raiding performance and scored 20 points but his effort went in vain as he just didn’t get enough support.
Sheykh got Dabang Delhi to a flying start with super raid in the first minute. Deepak got a couple of raid points as Pink Panthers trailed 3-4 after three minutes. Naveen then made a two-point raid in the 4th minute to give Dabang Delhi a 6-4 lead.
The hosts then switched gears with Sheykh producing another super raid in the 11th minute to help Delhi led 15-7 after inflicting an all out. Three minutes later, Dabang Delhi inflicted another all out to grab a 25-8 advantage.
Pink Panthers’ defence had no answer to the raiding prowess of Sheykh and Chandran. They could score just one tackle point in the entire first half. Sheykh got a super 10 in the first half as Dabang Delhi enjoyed a 19-point gap and led 29-10 at the break. Delhi began the second half with a bang, inflicting another all out in the 23rd minute to lead 33-11.
Ravinder Pahal and Joginder Narwal marshalled the Delhi defence brilliantly and didn’t let any Jaipur raider settle throughout the match. Pink Panthers’ captain Anup Kumar too had a quiet match by his standards. The visitors salvaged some pride in the second half, scoring 10 points in the first 10 minutes but still trailed 18-36.
Ajinkya Pawar scored with a two-point raid as Pink Panthers inflicted an all out in the 32nd minute to trail 23-36.
Chandran got a two-point raid in the 36th minute to thwart any hope Jaipur had of a comeback even as Deepak kept picking raid points, including a super raid in the 40th minute.