Pro Kabaddi: Dabang Delhi – Road to PKL 2021 Final

The men from Delhi made it to the final after some brilliant individual performances at various stages of the league. Here, we take a look at Dabang Delhi's road to the final.

Stunning start

The Dabang Delhi started off their campaign in a stunning fashion, with Naveen Goyat registering a Super 10 in each of their first seven matches. This meant that it took the Dabangs a total of eight matches to taste a defeat as the Jaipur Pink Panthers took them down 30-28 after keeping Naveen quiet.

Naveen's injury

That game against Jaipur Pink Panthers also saw their star raider Naveen Goyat picking up an unfortunate injury. Playing without the Express, the Dabangs fell to a massive 22-61 loss to the Bengaluru Bulls and they seem to have been completely exposed. To make things worse, the Bulls game also saw their captain Joginder Narwal walk off the mat due to an injury.

Manjeet's return to form

Manjeet Chillar, who seemed to be woefully out of touch until the Bulls' game suddenly found himself captaining the side with Joginder Narwal out of the equation. The sense of responsibility brought out the best in the veteran as he not only guided the youngsters well, but also played himself to form in the next few matches.

All-round performance

While Naveen's absence did have a massive impact in the performance of Dabang Delhi during middle of the season, they had various players stepping up under pressure. If the young Vijay Malik played his part to perfection in the absence of Naveen, the veteran Sandeep Narwal too took on the raiding duties for a few matches. Krishan Dhull on the right corner and the young super sub Neeraj Narwal too chipped in with brilliant individual shows under pressure to help the Dabang Delhi to their second consecutive final.