Dabang Delhi celebrates after winning Pro Kabaddi League 2021-22
Dabang Delhi KC won the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 trophy by defeating Patna Pirates 37-36 in the final. Their star raider Naveen Kumar (13 points) and all-rounder Vijay (14 points) secured Super 10s as they overcame a tough challenge from three-time champions Patna Pirates. Patna’s defense had a poor night with Mohammadreza Shadloi and Sunil making too many mistakes. The Pirates had a chance to level the score in the final leg of the match, but Naveen evaded the defenders and crossed the ball line and helped Delhi win their first VIVO PKL Trophy.
The match started at a high intensity with both sets of raiders collecting points. The defense took a cautious approach and awarded easy bonus points. Sachin’s pace created trouble in Delhi’s defence, while the Patna defender stayed away from handling Delhi’s Naveen Kumar. Mohammadreza Shadloui made the first successful tackle in the 7th minute and sent Naveen Kumar to the dugout. This helped Patna take the lead on the mat and they converted it to an all out by the 11th minute.
The Pirates held a 4 point lead, but Delhi immediately staged a fight with Sandeep Narwal to successfully counter Sachin. Delhi dealt a blow to Patna but Sachin’s clever raids helped the Pirates avoid an all out. Both the left-handers – Delhi’s Joginder Narwal and Patna’s Mohammadreza Shadloui – made extraordinary mistakes. It turned out to be a serious affair in the final minutes of the first half with both teams not committing mistakes. The score at the interval with Patna was 17-15. Both the teams made only 2 successful tackles in the first half.
Naveen and Sachin started the second half with a successful raid. But Delhi’s experienced defense ensured that they came close to being all out in the opening minutes. But raider Guman Singh secured a 2 point raid after the break in the 6th minute to help Patna, whose back was against the wall. Shadalui then backs it up with a tackle on Naveen Kumar. Patna thought they had changed the balance of the match but Delhi all-rounder Vijay got a super raid of 3 points to keep the pressure in check. The score was level 24-24 with 10 minutes remaining in the final.
Naveen got his Super 10 soon after the first time out. Delhi continued to dominate the mat and were all out with 6 minutes remaining to take a 2 point lead. Vijay followed up with a 2 point raid for Delhi as he got a chance to take the match away from Patna completely. Patna’s defence, especially Shadalui, had an unusually poor night and the team conceded another 3-point super raid with 3 minutes remaining in the match. The all-rounder picked his Super 10 in the process.
Shadlaui became the raider in the last minutes and scored points in the last raid of the match to make it a 1 point match. But Naveen remained calm and crossed the ball line to win the match for Dabang Delhi
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