PKL 2023-24: Jaipur Pink Panthers come from behind to tie Dabang Delhi, Gujarat Giants clinch nail-biter

Dabang Delhi KC and defending champions Jaipur Pink Panthers played out a nail-biting 32-32 tie in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 match at the SDAT Multipurpose Indoor Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday. Ashu Malik was the star for Dabang Delhi KC with 7 raid points on the night. Dabang Delhi dominated the proceedings and it took them only 8 minutes to inflict the first ALL OUT. The defence collectively pounced on Ajith Kumar and the side soared to a 10-4 lead. They coasted along and maintained their lead, but Naveen’s injury in the 14th minute was a cause of concern. The injury notwithstanding, Dabang Delhi continued their dominance on the mat and got a second ALL OUT in the 17th minute to lead 20-10. Jaipur Pink Panthers’ star raider Arjun Deshwal could not manage a single touchpoint in the first half, while the Dabang Delhi defenders enjoyed a 100% tackle strike rate and led 23-11 at the break. Ashu Malik took over the raiding responsibilities in Naveen’s absence and did well on his part, but the Jaipur Pink Panthers upped the tempo in the second half. Arjun picked up a handful of bonus points, while Ankush showcased one of the best defensive performances of the season. Operating from the left corner, he brought the Pink Panthers within 6 points of the Delhi side when he executed a perfect tackle on Manjeet. That tackle saw him complete a High 5 and the scoreline read 26-20 in Delhi’s favour with 10 minutes to go. Arjun saved his best for the final few minutes as he got multiple raid points before deploying a superb ankle hold on Vishal Bhardwaj to inflict an ALL OUT. With a little over 5 minutes left, the Pink Panthers trailed by 3 points at 29-26. Arjun then got a touch on Manjeet a minute later to level the scores at 29-29 and the Pink Panthers made a remarkable comeback to erase a 13-point deficit. It appeared like Delhi would sneak away with a narrow win, but an error from Vikrant, who stepped out of bounds before making a tackle, in the dying stages of the game saw the Pink Panthers get a point and level the scores again at 32-32. Thereafter, Ashu Malik decided to run down the clock and settle for a tie. Rakesh propels Gujarat Giants to nail-biting victory over Tamil Thalaivas Despite a brief setback near the end of the game, the Gujarat Giants defeated the Tamil Thalaivas 33-30 at the SDAT Multipurpose Indoor Stadium in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 match on Wednesday. Rakesh (9 points), Sombir (4 points) and Fazal Atrachali (3 points) were the standout players for the Giants, while Ajinkya Pawar’s 11 points came in a losing cause. The game was the last one in the Chennai leg, as the league moves to Noida next. The next leg of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 will begin on Friday, 29 December 2023. In an early win for the Thalaivas, Ajinkya Pawar came out firing on all cylinders and managed to take out Fazal Atrachali twice in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Despite that though there was nothing to separate the sides at the start, as they matched each other raid for raid. However, the Giants seized control of the game a few moments later. A SUPER TACKLE by Manoj on a rampant Himanshu Singh started a domino effect. Within a minute with his first raid of the game, Parteek Dahiya picked up a SUPER RAID taking out Sahil Gulia, M Abishek and Amirhossein Bastami to put the Giants in control. They went into the break leading by three points. A high-paced second half was played out mostly on the raid, with Pawar and Rakesh constantly keeping the scoreboard ticking for their respective sides. The Giants’ defence rallied together soon to reduce the home team’s numbers and the first ALL OUT came in due course to extend them into a 24-18 lead. The final minutes of the game saw some brilliant play, with Narender’s raid to take out Atrachali and his compatriot Mohammad Nabibakhsh bringing the partisan crowd to its feet. That raid had drawn the Thalaivas close to the Giants’ score. With two minutes left though, a Sombir SUPER TACKLE put the Giants back in control of the game. They ran the clock down easily to take the win in the end.