PKL 2019 | There wasn’t just one turning point, believes Krishan Kumar Hooda

Dabang Delhi staged a brilliant comeback in their first home game against Bengaluru Bulls as they won 33-31 in the close encounter last evening. We saw Pawan Sehrawat in continuous raids since the first minute where he was able to force errors by Delhi defence in the starting minutes. Bengaluru’s defence seemed calm and patient and managed to oust Chandran Ranjit in his very first raid. Similarly, both their departments worked simultaneously and managed to inflict an all-out on Dabang Delhi 10 minutes into the game. Bengaluru were leading by 19-11 by the time the first half ended.

“I wouldn’t say there was just one turning point. There were many crucial plays from our defence and our raiders that got us the win,” Dabang Delhi coach Krishan Kumar Hooda said when asked about the turning point of the match in the post-match press conference.

In the second half, Dabang Delhi changed their strategies and instead of going for more touch points they started going for bonuses. The defenders were now more cautions and were able to oust Pawan Sherawat in successive raids which helped them come back into the game.

“I don’t believe in the concept of individuals. I like my team to be able to perform as a unit. Some teams in this league are over-reliant on one player and they haven’t had much success. I do have some excellent players, but it’s important for us to perform as a unit,” coach Krishan Kumar Hooda said.

In the raiding department, Naveen Kumar was once again proved his worth as he finished the match with 13 raid points. Even though Chandran Ranit didn’t work, Meraj Sheykh came in as a substitute and scored five crucial points. In the defence, Ravinder Pahal even after four unsuccessful tackle attempts was the top scorer with four points and he was well supported by Vishal Mane and skipper Joginder Narwal.

“Naveen has been outstanding since the start of the season. But our raiding unit as a whole is extremely dynamic. The coach decided to use Meraj (Sheykh) as an impact player and he left his imprint on the game and that is visible to all. Naveen is obviously a diamond for us but so are the rest of the raiders,” skipper Joginder said on Naveen’s performance.

In the upcoming matches, Delhi would hope to perform well and break the home team jinx as they already seemed to be on that road.

“As we have seen this season, the home teams have had a torrid time. Breaking the home jinx was very satisfying. I'd like to dedicate this win to the people of Delhi and the fans of Dabang Delhi K.C. everywhere,” coach Hooda concluded.