Ashu Malik propels Delhi to incredible win against Thalaivas

KOLKATA: Dabang Delhi produced a mindblowing comeback as it erased a 13-point deficit and clinched a hard-fought 45-43 win over Tamil Thalaivas in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 match at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday. Ashu Malik was Delhi’s star as he finished with 18 raid points, as did Thalaivas’ Narender.

The Thalaivas raced off the blocks in style with an ALL OUT inside the opening 5 minutes. Narender ran through the Delhi defence and the raiders were on song as Thalaivas soared to a 9-2 lead. Ashan Kumar’s side was brilliant on all accounts and its dominance was on full display as it secured another ALL OUT in the 15th minute and climbed to a mammoth lead at 22-9.

Delhi, which has already qualified for the playoffs, failed to get going as captain Ashu was the only one who kept the scoreboard ticking. The defence had a poor outing and leaked points aplenty as the Thalaivas went into the interval leading 25-14.

Ashu’s men made a good start to the 2nd period as they inflicted an ALL OUT in the 24th minute and reduced the deficit to just 5 points at 25-20. However, their hopes of a comeback were dashed by some brilliant raiding from Narender. The youngster starred with a multi-point raid, bagged a Super 10 and led his side to an ALL OUT that propelled them to a 12-point lead at 34-22.

While it looked like the odds were stacked against them, Delhi produced a miraculous comeback. It began with a SUPER RAID from Meetu Sharma and then Ashu switched gears as Delhi clinched an ALL OUT at 33-38 with 6 minutes to go.

What followed was a raiding masterclass from Ashu as he got the better of every Thalaivas defender to level the scores at 38-38 and then a splendid tackle from Manu on Narender in the 39th minute awarded Delhi an ALL OUT and the lead at 43-42. Ashu grabbed his 18th point of the game in the final raid as he climbed to the top of the standings for the season’s best raider and Delhi bounced back to winning ways. The win consolidated Delhi’s position at third in the table with 74 points in 21 matches. In the evening’s second match, host Bengal Warriors went down 26-29 to Puneri Paltan. Last season’s runner-up, Puneri, moved to the top of the table with 86 points from 20 matches.