PKL 10: Ashu Malik's raiding propels Dabang Delhi to victory over Bengaluru Bulls

Panchkula (Haryana), Feb 18 (IANS) Dabang Delhi recorded a brilliant 46-38 to take down the Bengaluru Bulls in their encounter in a Season 10 match of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here on Sunday. In a stunning raiding performance, Ashu Malik recorded 17 points, which also took him to the top of the charts for successful raids in PKL Season 10, and a mere nine points behind Arjun Deshwal in raid points for the season.  

Right from the start, Dabang Delhi streaked into a quick lead, putting the Bulls on the ropes within the first five minutes of the game. The first All-Out came within the first five minutes as they took a 12-3 lead. From there the Bulls came together and even put together a small run of points to draw closer to the lead. In a very disciplined performance, their defence stood up to the task and logged an incredible 14 tackle points through the half, more than their raiders had.

In the final five minutes of the half, they were the ones who had the momentum and soon enough Dabang were scrambling, their numbers reduced on the mat. A Super Tackle by Yogesh on Vikash Kandola stopped the rot as they went into the break leading 28-16.

Despite that, it didn't take long for the Bulls to inflict a first All-Out of their own within seconds of the restart to reduce the gap to 28-19. Dabang hit back almost immediately with Ashu Malik's Super Raid taking out Pon Parthiban Subramanian, Saurabha Nandal and Rohit Kumar putting them back in control of the game.

The nature of the topsy-turvy contest meant that there was never any consistent momentum for either team. A few minutes later, Sushil produced a Super Raid of his own to take out Vishal Bhardwaj, Manu, Meetu Sharma and Balasaheb Jadhav, reestablishing the Bulls' control. They inflicted a second All-Out to draw within five points of Dabang Delhi.

Despite the all-outs the Bulls struggled to keep Dabang, and Malik in particular, from scoring constantly and that meant that they were never really able to bridge the gap entirely. It was evident in the last raid of the game, a Super Raid where Malik took out Vikash Kandola, Sushil, Surjet Singh and Ran Singh to ensure Dabang took a huge victory to consolidate their position on the table.

--IANS

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