Ashu plays captain’s role as Dabang Delhi beats Gujarat Giants

NOIDA: Dabang Delhi extended its unbeaten run to 4 games as they earned a 35-28 comeback win over Gujarat Giants in the Pro Kabaddi League match at the Noida Indoor Stadium on Tuesday. Stand-in skipper Ashu Malik was the star performer for Dabang Delhi as he finished with a Super 10, while Manjeet grabbed 9 raid points.

Dabang Delhi got off to a strong start as they took a 4-0 lead, but Gujarat Giants worked their way back into the game through a superb multi-point raid from Rakesh HS. Much like Rakesh, Parteek Dahiya also produced a 2-point raid soon after, which caused plenty of trouble for Dabang Delhi as they were reduced to 1 defender. The inevitable occurred soon after as Dabang Delhi, playing without their captain Naveen Kumar, were on the receiving end of an ALL OUT and Gujarat Giants led 11-9.

Fazel Atrachali, captain of the Gujarat Giants, achieved a huge milestone as he trapped Ashu in one of his trademark ankle holds and went on to reach the 450 tackle points milestone. The Iranian’s defender’s team went into the interval leading 16-14.

Manjeet, Dabang Delhi’s second raider of the game, got his side off to a fiery start in the second half and then Ashu took over the reins. Ashu, captaining Dabang Delhi in Naveen’s absence, outwitted 4 defenders in 2 raids, including Fazel, to put Gujarat Giants in a spot of bother. Ashu was in the thick of things again as he then executed a tackle on Sonu Jaglan to put his team ahead. The ALL OUT followed soon after and Dabang Delhi cruised to a 4-point lead at 28-24.

Both sides traded blows in the final 5 minutes, but Dabang Delhi’s lead proved to be too steep for Gujarat Giants to catch up to. Ashu got the better of Fazel yet again off his final raid and completed his Super 10 as Dabang Delhi sealed a hard-fought comeback win.