Dabang Delhi and Bengal Warriors will clash in the final of Pro Kabaddi League Season Seven after winning their respective semifinal matches here on Wednesday.
In the first semifinal, Naveen Kumar was the star as Dabang Delhi beat defending champions Bengaluru Bulls 44-38 to book their maiden summit clash berth. Bengal Warriors beat U Mumba 37-35 in the other semifinal in a tightly-fought contest to also clinch a place in the final for the first time.
The final will be played here on Saturday.
The Delhi team produced an all-round performance, with Naveen Kumar impressing with his raids (15 raid points) and Anil Kumar dominating with his tackles (4 points) to win in front of a packed stadium at the EKA Arena by TransStadia.
The Bulls, just like in the Eliminator against UP Yoddha, had a slow start, with Delhi dominating the first few plays. Ravinder Pahal seemed keen to maintain his dominance in duels against Pawan Sehrawat.
Delhi dominated in all departments, with Naveen Kumar spearheading the attack, and inflicted the first All-Out of the match in the fifth minute to open up a 6-point lead.
Pawan secured a three-point Super Raid in the seventh minute to reduce the margin but Delhi maintained their momentum thanks to an unstoppable Naveen Kumar. They inflicted another All-Out in the 13th minute to open up an 11-point lead as Naveen Kumar secured another Super 10 (his 20th consecutive).
Delhi led Bulls 26-18 at half time. And the Bulls opted for a more aggressive approach in the second half with the defenders consistently getting better of the Delhi raiders in do-or-die situations.
But what makes Delhi a complete unit is the presence of versatile all-rounders and the likes of Chandran Ranjit and Vijay stepped up with valuable raid and tackle points to always maintain a healthy lead of six or seven points.
While in the second game, despite the absence of lead raider Maninder Singh, Bengal Warriors matched the in-form U Mumba side in the early exchanges, with Sukesh Hegde looking composed in his raids.
Rinku Narwal in the left corner was also having a good day for the Warriors who were helped by some uncharacteristic errors in the Mumbai defence.
