PKL5 Match 3 report: Jaipur Pink Panthers 26-30 Dabang Delhi

Date: 29th July
Time: 8PM IST (3:30PM BST)
Venue: Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad

Line-ups

Jaipur Pink Panthers: Jasvir Singh, Manjeet Chhillar (C), Navneet Gautum, Somvir Shekhar, Selvamani K, Pawan Kumar, Manoj Dhull.
Subs used: Tushar Patil.

Dabang Delhi: Nilesh Shinde, Meyraj Sheykh (C, ✈️), Bajirao Hodage, Viraj Landge, Rohit Baliyan, Sunil Kumar, Anand Patil.
Subs used: Abolfazl Maghsodlou (✈️).

Match Report

The closest season 5 ProKabaddi match so far saw Jaipur take the early lead and the first all out, but a stunning comeback from Dabang Delhi meant they got the next two all outs and won the game by only 4 points!

Dabang Delhi started well, but Jaipur took the lead quickly scoring raid points through Selvamani K, Jasvir Singh and Pawan Kumar. They then secured the all out through a 2 point raid by Jasvir Singh, meaning they led 11-4. Soon after a nasty injury struck to Selvamani K, meaning he had to go off court with what looked like a twisted knee, arguably this was the turning point of the game.

Dabang Delhi then came back with a strong defence, in particular Nilesh Shinde excelled with his perfectly timed ankle holds. The half time score was 16-9 to Jaipur Pink Panthers. The second half started with only 2 players on court for Jaipur meaning that Delhi secured a quick all out to bring the score back to 16-13. Then on came Abolfazl Maghsodlou who picked up 4 raid points and help Meyraj Sheykh knock Jaipur all out again, with Jasvir and Manjeet both getting tackled by the Delhi defence.

The scores were turned around and it was now 21-27 to Delhi. Both teams traded blows but in the end the lead was large enough for Dabang Delhi to see the game out and the final score was 26-30 to Dabang Delhi.

Star Players

• The best raider of this match was Pawan Kumar who scored 7 raid points for Jaipur Pink Panthers, Jasvir Singh also impressed by picking up 5 raid points.
• For Dabang Delhi Abolfazl Maghsodlou picked up 4 raid points, but Meyraj Sheykh was most impressive who picked up 7 total points.
• Also impressive in Delhi’s defence was Nilesh Shinde, timing his ankle grabs to perfection.

Match Prediction

Prediction: Jaipur Pink Panthers 35-28 Dabang Delhi
Actual result: Jaipur Pink Panthers 26-30 Dabang Delhi

So I got this prediction wrong, Dabang Delhi exceeded my expectations, whilst Jaipur dissapointed.

In the future…

No doubt the main concern for Jaipur Pink Panthers is the injury to Selvamani K, Jaipur will hope that he is not out of the action for long since he is their main raider along with Pawan Kumar and Jasvir Singh.

Otherwise I don’t think Jaipur will need to worry too much, since with Jasvir and Manjeet they have a very strong side, both literally and figuratively! With Dabang Delhi the defence impressed me a lot, and they have a very balanced side with both good defenders and good raiders.

Iranians Abolfazl Maghsodlou and Meyraj Sheykh were impressive on the raid, and in defence Nilesh Shinde and Bajirao Hodage played very well. The Dabangs will look to go from strength to strength to try and make the play offs, I will also expect Jaipur to be also challenging for the top three!