Chandran Ranjit shines in dramatic tie against Gujarat Fortunegiants

What a night it was for The Eagles in Chennai! What a game of Kabaddi it was between last year’s Pro Kabaddi finalist Gujarat Fortunegiants and Dabang Delhi! With three losses and not a single win against Gujarat, odds were against us. But some fighting spirit from Chandran Ranjit, Naveen Kumar and crucial points from our defence during the second half helped our boys to level the score at the last gasp.

Our NYP and one of the brightest talent in the Kabaddi circuit, Naveen Kumar opened the account for Dabang Delhi in the 2nd minute of the minute with a running hand touch. But that was followed by multiple errors and we were all out in the 7th minute of the first-half with Dabang Delhi trailing Gujarat Fortunegiants by 3-9.

It wasn't over for us and our boys fought back with both Shabeer Bappu and Captain Joginder Narwal scoring crucial points. But the storm in Chennai for Gujarat was yet to come.

Chandran Ranjit who came in as substitute gave a much needed push to us and went on to score two back-to-back points in as many raids. He followed that up with two bonus points in a row as Dabang Delhi were behind by just four points at the end of the first half, 12-17.

Both teams played safe at the start of the second half. But the night wasn't over for our star raider Chandran Ranjit. He brought us back in to the game with scorpion kick and stunned the arena with a flying double ankle hold in the defence at left corner. In a matter of time Gujarat were all out and The Eagles were behind by just two points, 27-29 with the game heading towards a dramatic finish.

Young Naveen's last attempt during the match was unsuccessful in the game's 38th minute. In the 40th minute Pawan Kumar's superb toe-touch brought us back into the game, giving us a one point lead. Ravinder Pahal couldn't do much to avoid a touch point from Mahendra Rajput and score was leveled once again at 32 each.

Pawan Kumar played safe in the last raid of the match and the 40 minutes excitement ended in a TIE at 32-32!

We will play our next match against Puneri Paltan on October 12 in Sonipat. The start against Gujarat was great and Joginder Narwal led Dabang Delhi had clearly sent the message to all the other teams. Once again well played team and let's keep that going!