Dabangs fall short in second game

The second game in Vivo Pro Kabaddi saw us taking on Gujarat FortuneGiants, who were playing their first-ever match in the tournament. Confident from the last match, Rupesh Tomar and Abolfazel Maghsoudlo were added in the starting line-up in place of Rohit Baliyan and Anand Patil. But it wasn’t the best of starts as Gujarat dominated the game. We got our first point of the match in the 6th minute, as Sachin was tackled by our defenders.

The newcomers dominated the first half as they won points while raiding and didn’t let our raiders get away. It was in the 13th minute that we got 2 points, one each while raiding and defending. Anand Patil, after being introduced, garnered points with his raiding but could not find another partner. Meraj Sheykh had an off day at the office which affected the team as well. At the half-time mark, we were trailing 5-15.

With the comeback against Jaipur still fresh, many were hoping the Dabangs will be able to do it once again. R Sriram was introduced in the second half and the youngster impressed one and all with his movement and intelligence. The duo of Patil and Sriram were looking good as the Eagles looked to close the huge deficit. We inflicted the first all-out on them in the 39th minute but it was all too late. In the end, after making a late surge, we fell short by 6 points to lose the game 20-26. R Sriram won the ‘Perfect Raider’ award as his 5 points made him the best debutant in ProKabaddi season V. The partnership of Sriram and Anand Patil is definitely one to look out for in the coming matches. Both young raiders were terrific and the management would be tempted to start with them in the coming matches. Talking more about the defence, we have inflicted 3 all-outs till now, which is the most by any team. The team will now travel to Nagpur for the second leg with a determination to improve their performances.