PKL 2021: Dabang Delhi thumps Puneri Paltan 41-30 in their opening contest

Dabang Delhi started off their PKL 2021 campaign in style thrashing the Nitin Tomar-led Puneri Paltan 41-30. The young Naveen Goyat continued from where he left off last season as he registered a whopping 16 points on the night.

The Puneri Paltan started on a fiery note with Rahul Chaudhari scoring in his first raid for the Puneri Paltan. Sombir followed it up with a stunning ankle hold on Vijay Malik as the Paltan took a 2-0 lead within the first two minutes. The Dabang Delhi equalised within a minute via a stunning tackle from Jeeva Kumar and Naveen Goyat's first point of the season.

There was no looking back since then for the Dabangs as Naveen kept chipping away with raid points to inflict an all-out and lead 10-5 within the first nine minutes. The Puneri Paltan defence was once again found wanting as the Naveen continued to pile misery on the Nitin Tomar-led side to inflict a second all-out in the first half.

The domination from the 21-year-old Naveen was clearly evident as the veteran Ajay Thakur was not required to put in the entire first half. Though the Paltan trailed 22-15 at the end of the first half, they did manage a brief comeback as they reduced the Dabang Delhi to three men towards the end of the first 20 minutes.

The Paltan continued to pile on the pressure in the second half as they wiped out the Dabang Delhi for the first time with 13 minutes to go in the contest. Naveen who was on 9 points at the eighteenth minute of the match, had to wait until the 32nd minute of the match to complete his Super 10. The failure to bring the youngster back on the court proved costly for Delhi as the Puneri Paltan reduced their deficit to 22-26.

The return of Naveen after the all-out brought back the energy to the Delhi camp as they extended their lead to 29-23 with less than 10 minutes to go. It did not take much time from there for Delhi to inflict yet another all out on the struggling Paltan to lead 37-26 with less than five minutes on the clock.

There were no further hiccups as Dabang Delhi cruised to a 41-30 win in their opening contest of Pro Kabaddi League 2021.