Dabang Delhi registered an emphatic come from behind win over Haryana Steelers 39-33, thanks to a superior attack and defence in the second half of the match.
Ravinder Pahal registered his second High 5 of the Vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 6. His first one was against Haryana Steelers in our previous encounter which we lost. Young Naveen Kumar was consistent right through the match and finished with nine raid points.
The biggest positive from yesterday's match was seasoned-pro Meraj Sheykh's getting back to his good old form. He scored 6 touch points including one Super Raid, that was awarded as the best moment of the match.
Former Dabang Delhi player Vikas Kandola led the Haryana Steelers side. It was a slow start from both teams till Monu Goyat came in as a substitute for Parveen in the 7th minute. The game gathered some speed and in just a matter of 3 minutes both the sides exchanged a flurry of raids (5 in total, with Meraj’s 3 raids and Monu’s 2 raid points in total).
The Eagles were leading 13-8 at one point of time, before stand-in Captain Vikas Kandola and Monu Goyat's six back-to-back successful raids took them to 19-15 at the end of first 20 minutes.
Our Dabangs changed the course of play right from the start of the second half. Monu Goyat was tackled in his first raid of the second half. That was followed by a dry spell from Haryana Raiders with plenty of unsuccessful raids, Vikas Kandola was the second casualty for the Steelers, as they looked out of touch in the raiding department.
The Steelers' hopes of making any comeback was shattered by Ravinder Pahal as he came up with a brilliant tackle on Monu Goyat in the penultimate minute of the game. Our young Dabang Naveen Kumar came up with another successful raid to finish the match with 9 Raid Points and hand Dabang Delhi an important by 6 points.
The win saw Dabang Delhi reach 22 points after 8 games. The next encounter will see them take on Jaipur Pink Panthers in Mumbai on November 11 followed by an encounter against defending champions, Patna Pirates on November 15.