PKL 2019 | Dabang Delhi eye Patna Pirates game to stay unbeaten at home

Till the Delhi leg, PKL 7 had a trend in which the home teams failed to perform. However, Dabang Delhi have completely changed the narrative and they now have three wins under their belt at home. The coach was quite vocal about breaking the home jinx and his boys have made him happy as Delhi is the only team in the league to have three wins at home in season 7. Apart from Naveen, players like Pahal and Joginder have also performed well on the mat in the last three matches which have made Delhi a deadly unit at the moment.

However, many kabaddi experts and kabaddi fans were eagerly waiting to see Naveen taking on Fazel Atrachali as Delhi faced Mumba in their third home game. A lot was expected from the Mumba defenders to stop Naveen’s juggernaut and restrict him equalling Pardeep Narwal’s record of eight consecutive Super 10s. But all those speculations were put to rest by a dominating show by the two corner defenders of Dabang Delhi with both Pahal and Joginder registering their respective High 5s. Right corner Pahal was the star of the game as he scored eight tackle points from eight attempts in the game. 

The game between Mumba and Delhi started with Delhi being behind in the first few minutes and the first half was evenly contested. However, change of sides also changed the fortunes in Delhi’s favour. Apart from Pahal and Joginder, Naveen stepped up for the team from the national capital and he dominated the action in the second half. Naveen equalled Pardeep’s record and also collected 11 raid points and Delhi won by a huge margin of 40-24. Fazel, who was considered as the player to stop Naveen scored four tackle points and had to get out on five occasions while attempting to stop the Delhi raiders on Wednesday.

Patna, on the other hand, are in last place on the table with only three wins in the season. Ram Mehar Singh and his boys are under huge pressure and there is a lot expected from Pardeep as well. With the kind of form Pahal is in, Pardeep, who is a left-side raider, might find it really difficult in the last game. Delhi’s management knows that Pardeep is the only one player who can turn things around for Patna and if Pahal shines on Friday, Delhi can achieve their target of winning all their home games in the seventh season.