The Bulls were given a boost before the match as star raider Ajay Thakur, who had missed Bengaluru’s last 2 matches, was declared fit. Dabang Delhi were having none of it though as they displayed exemplary defending by catching Bulls captain Manjeet Chhillar.
After a slow first 4 minutes when both teams were tied at 1-1, the match picked up pace as both teams started picking up points courtesy of their rock-solid defence. Ravinder Pahal and Joginder Narwal for Dabang Delhi and Bengaluru Bulls, respectively, made sure the raiders didn’t get a lot of points.
Just when it looked like the raiders would have an off-day, Kashiling Adake and Rohit Kumar Chaudhary returned successfully from their raids as they reduced the Bulls to just 2 men after 12 minutes. However, the team from Karnataka charged back through Manjeet Chhillar’s raids and a super tackle on Kashiling to take the lead 8-7 with 6 minutes left on the clock.
The oldest player in the tournament, 40-year-old Dharmaraj Cheralathan, used his ankle hold to perfection on Dabang Delhi’s Amit Kumar to increase Bengaluru’s lead to 3 points (8-11). The Dabang players kept on getting out, most spectacularly when Kashiling Adake failed to wrestle free from Somvir Shekar’s ankle hold. Manjeet Chhillar, in the last minute of the half, got both the remaining Dabang Delhi players out to extend Bulls’ lead to 9 points.
The Bulls were dominant in the second half
The Bulls went on a 9-point run in the final 5 minutes of the first half as the half-time buzzer went soon after. In the absence of head coach Honnappa C Gowda, Dabang Delhi looked toothless after the first 10 minutes, letting the Bulls free in the latter half of the first period and would be looking to coach Arjun Singh for inspiration.
Ajay Thakur got his first points of the match in the 2nd minute of the second half after he got GS Manikanta out during a raid. With the Bulls leading 19-9, Kashiling Adake tagged 2 Bulls defenders to release some of the pressure that had built among the Dabang Delhi team.
However, star raider Ajay Thakur came up with a super-raid (3 points) restored his team’s 9-point lead after 26 minutes. The next 8 minutes saw both the teams conserve energy as they exchanged points and by the 34th minute, the scoreline read 15-24 in Bengaluru Bulls’ favour.
The Bulls made sure that Dabang Delhi did not pull off a spectacular comeback as coach Randhir Singh called a timeout to tell the team to tighten the defence. The team responded well as they not only defended tightly, but even inflicted another all out on the team from the capital of the country. Manjeet Chhillar finished the match with brilliant stats of 8 raid points and 1 tackle point.
Man of the match: Manjeet Chhillar
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