PKL 2019 | Why Dabang Delhi’s close win against Tamil Thalaivas important for the league
In one of the most exciting games ever in the PKL history, we saw Dabang Delhi KC beating Tamil Thalaivas by just a point last evening. The game went all down to the wire and is the much-needed impetus for the season which otherwise had lopsided matches so far.
A league which has been the most number of teams involved in the country and is the second-most followed sporting league in India, Pro Kabaddi League has become one of the popular sporting events across the nation. The breathtaking and scintillating actions on the mat along with wider coverage and with 12 participating teams, the indigenous sport has reached a wider audience at the moment.
The ongoing tournament is the seventh season and it kick-started with home side Telugu Titans taking on the champion team of the second season U Mumba at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad. The die-hard kabaddi viewers were expecting to see and the good fight between the two sides on the mat. However, the reality was something different. The Titans failed to bring a smile on the faces of their supporters and went down 25-31. The first game was never ever a close battle between the two teams. Although the second match of the evening was a close game, in which defending champs Bengaluru Bulls defeated three-time winners Patna Pirates 34-32, the tournament this year has been more or less underwhelming.
Till the game between Dabang Delhi and Telugu Titans on Wednesday, the fans were deprived of seeing an evenly-poised contest. Some team or the other dominated the proceedings on the mat which was unlike the basic nature of the sport. Kabaddi is usually a competitive sport in which not only the players but also the spectators are involved in each and every raid of a game. Especially the sixth season was one of the most intriguing editions ever in the history of the tournament. As many as 14 matches last year were tied affairs and there were numerous such occasions where the teams trailing at half-time made some amazing comebacks to take the lead and eventually end up on the winning side in the tournament.
Who can forget the show by the champion side Bengaluru Bulls? Powered by Pawan Sehrwat’s raids, the team from the Garden City had scripted some excellent comebacks to win matches despite trailing by a decent margin during half-time breaks throughout the league last year. Even in the final game, Gujarat Fortunegiants were leading 16-9 at half-time but after that, the Sehrawat storm swept Sunil Kumar and co. to take the game and the champions’ title as well.
© PKLHowever, although the first week of the league is about to get over, leaving aside the two Delhi games, one has not seen a single game which has been that exciting to watch for a neutral kabaddi fan. The best example of one-sided games was the match between Bengal Warriors and UP Yoddha in which the team from Kolkata won the margin by a huge margin of 48-17 in the first game for both the teams.
Delhi’s first game, in which they had managed to beat the home team Telugu Titans, was not that exciting like the game which was played on Thursday. It was a single header yesterday and Dabang Delhi KC were up against Tamil Thalaivas, a team which had finished at the bottom of the points table in Zone B last year but had a great start to their campaign this year as they had beaten Telugu Titans in the first game. The team from Chennai had all the experience with them with the likes of Ajay Thakur, Rahul Chaudhari, Manjeet Chhillar, Mohit Chhillar, Ran Singh and Mohit Chhillar. On the other hand, Delhi had a good mix of youth and experience with them.
The match, however, involved a lot of self-outs where the players even experienced ones stepped out the mat on different occasions to gift points to the other teams. But still then, it was a game which saw some good raids from Thakur and Chaudhari, excellent tackles by Manjeet and a brilliant Super Tackle by Joginder Narwal. Tamil Thalaivas were leading 18-11 at the end of the first half and despite that, the team from the national capital was trailing by seven points, they managed to equal the scoreline towards the end and eventually overtook Thakur and co. to win the game.
The important rules of kabaddi in which a player stepping without the lobby being given out or stepping out of the court being given out were highlighted throughout the game and that also played an important part in the last raid in which the game was eventually decided and Delhi remained the unbeaten team among the two sides.
With the scorecard tied at 29-29, Delhi sent young Naveen Kumar for a Do or Die raid in the last raid of the match. As it was a Do or Die raid, the raider had to take a point otherwise Tamil would have got a point and won the match. However, with Manjeet stepping out of the mat and then Naveen getting tackled resulted in one-point each for the two teams. However, the Thalaivas still had a review and wanted to challenge the decision of the umpire saying that Manjeet was inside the mat but the decision of going upstairs back-fired for them and Manjeet, after stepping out, got involved in Naveen’s tackle which eventually meant that Naveen was safe. Ending all the drama and excitement among the players and the spectators, the TV umpire was spot on with his decision awarding one point to Delhi and none to Tamil Thalaivas. This helped Dabang Delhi register their second win of the tournament and Thakur and co. were seen reeling their chances in the match.
The game had all the excitement that a kabaddi fan wants to see in a competitive encounter. It was a match in which in spite of scoring five Super Tackles in the game, Manjeet turned out to be a villain for his side as the last and most important raid was the place where the senior all-rounder messed things up and handed over the game to Joginder Narwal and team.
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