Gujarat Fortunegiants maintained their winning streak after a 45-38 win over Dabang Delhi KC in the ongoing sixth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League on Sunday, 4 November.
Delhi's Chandran Ranjit and Naveen Kumar tried their best to make an impact on the match by getting 11 and 8 raid points. However, they were let down by the experienced corner pair comprising Ravinder Pahal and Captain Joginder Narwal, who collected three tackle points in total between them.
Gujarat's raider Dong Geon Lee, who was brought in for Sunday's match, caused problems for Delhi after getting a super 10, while Rohit Gulia collected seven raid points.
Gujarat started the match with a toe touch by Rohit on Vishal in the first raid. They continued to dominate Delhi, with Rohit getting a super raid with a bonus point and touch points on Vishal and Yogesh Hooda to make it 5-1 in Gujarat's favour by the 3rd minute.
Gujarat later inflicted an all-out on Delhi by the 6th minute to take a huge 11-3 lead.
It looked like Delhi were moving towards another loss, but they got a boost of optimism with Naveen and Ranjit, who managed regular touch points on Gujarat.
The first-half ended with Gujarat taking a 9-point lead, with the score reading 27-18 in their way.
In the second-half, Delhi came with a positive attitude to get the Gujarat defence weakened by getting Parvesh and Sunil out by the 23rd minute to make it 20-29. Later, Gujarat got a super tackle as Naveen entered the lobby without a touch while Sachin got out of the mat.
Rohit Gulia was also giving soft points to Delhi as he tried to tackle the raiders regularly.
Parvesh Bhainswal got a super tackle with a strong thigh hold on Ranjit to extend Gujarat's lead to 24-36 by the 27th minute.
Delhi tried to make a comeback by inflicting an all-out on Gujarat when Ranjit got Parvesh and Sachin out in the 30th minute to reduce the lead to 7 points.
Lee was causing trouble for Delhi with his agility and quick movements, regularly getting Ravinder to make mistakes. The 36th minute saw Ruturaj Koravi dash onto Ranjit to cause an injury to both of them.
The 37th minute saw Yogesh Hooda concede a super tackle by Sachin Vittala as Gujarat stretched their lead to 44-38.
Gujarat made sure to win the contest by slowing down the match with empty raids, with the final scorecard reading 45-38.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)