PKL 8: Bengal Warriors split points with Dabang Delhi KC

Bengaluru, Feb 10 (IANS) Defending champions Bengal Warriors held Dabang Delhi KC to an entertaining 39-39 tie in the Vivo Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 match, here on Thursday.

Dabang Delhi KC thought they had won the match when Naveen Kumar picked a 3-point Super Raid in the final minute, but Manjeet Chhillar's unsuccessful tackle allowed Bengal to stay in the match and secure a tie.

Maninder Singh was the best performer for Bengal with 16 points while Naveen Kumar got 16 for Delhi. The result will not help Bengal as they struggle to stay in contention for a Playoff spot. Delhi will also be upset after they lost a chance to secure all 5 points and push for a Top 2 finish in the league.

The first half was a cautious affair with Bengal dominating the early minutes. The defending champions showed they were no easy pushovers with captain Maninder Singh milking easy points from an unsettled Delhi defence. Jeeva Kumar struggled in the cover position while Delhi's corner combination of Joginder Narwal and Sandeep Narwal also lacked cohesion. Maninder Singh took both the corners out with a 2-point raid in the 4th minute.

The move initiated Bengal's push for an ALL OUT which they clinched in the 7th minute. The Warriors could not cling on to the 4-point lead however with Delhi immediately staging a fight back. Vijay supported Naveen Kumar in the raids while their defence immediately tackled Maninder Singh. With Mohammad Nabibakhsh not in the line-up, Bengal struggled to revive Maninder Singh. That allowed Delhi to control the proceedings and they secured an ALL OUT in the last minute before the interval to take a lead. The first half ended with the scores 19-18 in favour of Delhi.

Just like the first half, the early minutes of the second half were controlled by the Warriors. Maninder Singh went about picking his points as Bengal got closer to inflicting another ALL OUT. Joginder Narwal's brilliant wrist hold on Maninder Singh could only delay the inevitable as Bengal secured the ALL OUT in the 8th minute after the interval. Maninder scored a Super 10 but Delhi were still within touching distance thanks to the numerous Bonus Points they had picked up. Dabang levelled the scores with 10 minutes on the clock. Delhi came close to inflicting an ALL OUT on Bengal in the minutes that followed but Amit Narwal's Super Tackle helped Bengal regain some momentum.

Naveen Kumar picked his Super 10 and then clinched a massive 3-point Super Raid to completely shift the balance of the match. That gave Delhi a 1-point lead and chance to inflict an ALL OUT, but Rohit pulled off a 2-point raid to rescue Bengal. Naveen managed to get a quick point to level the scores once again, but Bengal prevented an ALL OUT in the final raid to settle for a tie.