 "Pro Kabaddi League: Dabang Delhi crushes Telugu Titans; rises to top")
Dabang Delhi put together a five-star performance to beat Telugu Titans 46-26 in the second game of the day at the Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium on Saturday. Dabang Delhi rode on the raiding of Naveen Kumar with 12 points, Manjeet's 9 points and a superb defensive performance by Ravi Kumar and Ashu Malik to inflict a crushing defeat on the Titans and stay unbeaten this season.
The pre-match build-up had built the match up as a clash between the Titans' defence and the Delhi offence, but within minutes it was clear that Dabang Delhi were not taking their defensive duties lightly. They raced into a 7-point lead before the Titans could even open their account. With barely six minutes gone, Delhi had already inflicted the first all-out of the match, taking an 11-2 lead.
The Titans regrouped, but Delhi, and in particular Naveen's ability to keep collecting bonus points and Manjeet's razor-sharp raid, meant their lead was never truly challenged. It wasn't just the Dabang raiders, though; the statistics laid bare the brilliance of their all-round performance. Dabang had eight tackle points in the first half, compared to the Titans' one. And they went into the break holding a deserved lead at 24-10.
Telugu Titans' substitute Mohsen Maghsoudlou offered them a ray of hope as the second half began. On a do-or-die raid, the Iranian managed to get the Titans a crucial point to chip away at the lead.
Immediately though, Delhi snatched back the initiative. Manjeet, on his very next foray, initiated a super raid, touching out Nitin, Mohit and Mohsen. The lone man standing, Vinay, was caught out as the team from the capital city inflicted their second all-out to take a massive lead at 30-12.
Despite the huge lead, Delhi did not slow down, and at the other end, the Titans' errors kept coming. By the end, it was just a matter of not how or when but by how much Delhi would win. The answer was 20 points, the second time they inflicted this margin on an opponent this season.