Delhi’s spirited comeback helps them salvage a tie against Gujarat

Dabang Delhi K.C. exhibited tremendous fighting spirit and overcame an early 7 point deficit to reach a 32-32 tie against Gujarat Fortunegiants at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. Coming off the bench, Chandran Ranjit scored 9 raid points and 1 tackle point, emerging as the highest scoring player from his side.

K. Prapanjan started things off in style for Gujarat Fortunegiants with a timely Dubki that got him 2 points in his opening raid. The Delhi raiders rallied hard but, except for Naveen Kumar, none of them were able to return with any points which led to the first All-Out being inflicted on them in the 6^th minute.

The introduction of Chandran Ranjit in the 8^th minute brought about a change in Delhi’s fortunes as he scored two quick points to heat up the Dabang Delhi K.C. engine. He added two more raid points to his tally before half time to help his team stay in the fight. However, Prapanjan and Gulia stayed strong for the Fortunegiants, scoring 4 points each and helping their team take a 5 point advantage going into half time. The score read 17-12 in the favour of the Fortunegiants.

Viraj Vishnu Landge and Pawan Kumar Kadian took the mat for Dabang Delhi K.C. in the second half and the former stuck immediately, picking up Rohit Gulia in his first raid of the half. The duo, along with Naveen Kumar helped Delhi gain a hold of the half, reducing Gujarat to 3 men in the 7^th minute. But the Gujarat defence, led by their captain Sunil Kumar, stood strong and managed a Super Tackle on Naveen Kumar to maintain their lead.

Chandran Ranjit and Pawan Kumar kept up the fight for Delhi but their efforts were equalled by Gujarat’s Sachin in offence which meant Delhi were unable to get the All-Out they looking for. However, once Sachin was picked up by Ranjit, it opened the door for a Gujarat All-Out and they soon succumbed to one in the 15^th minute following a brilliant 2-point raid by Ranjit.

With the Gujarat lead down to 2 points, Dabang Delhi K.C. came alive and applied consistent pressure. Ranjit’s successful raid in 17^th minute followed by a tackle on Rohit Gulia by captain Joginder Narwal took the game to a 31-31 tie.

Pawan Kumar and Mahendra Ganesh Rajput both returned successful raids from there as both teams had to settle for a 32-32 tie.