Mumbai: Dabang Delhi notched up their first victory in the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League after staving off a fine fight back from Puneri Paltan for a 35-31 verdict on day three of the tournament at the NSCI Stadium tonight.
Delhi started off in blazing fashion by packing off their Pune rivals for an all-out and two extra points within the first three minutes. They then led 21-9 with five minutes of the first half play left before the losers pulled up and the period ended with the winners leading 22-15.
Pune fought back very well in the second half mainly
through some brilliant raiding by Jitesh Joshi (8 points). 24-year-old Surjeet Narwal (13 points) from Haryana came up with excellent raids right through the game to keep Delhi ahead after their rivals narrowed the lead to 28-29 with seven minutes left in the game.
Kashiling Adake, the popular Delhi raider, contributed 5 points. For Pune, who suffered their second straight defeat after loss to Bengaluru Bulls, captain Wazir Singh contributed 8 points.
Pune's second half fight back began when they got a 'lona' after packing off all seven players of the rival team which got them two extra points. In raids, the tally was almost equal with only one point separating the two teams but Delhi's points tally with tackles (10) exceeded Pune's (7) that ultimately made the difference.
Delhi had also lost to the Bulls in their tournament opener.
