Meraj Sheikh led Dabang Delhi start it's home leg in Delhi win a big win over Anup Kumar's Jaipur Pink Panthers by 48-35 here at Tyagraj Sports Complex in New Delhi.
Iranian raider Meraj was the star performer for the capital franchise and he was ably supported by his other teammates who not only helped their star player with continuous collection of valuable points but also the defenders who made it way more than difficult for the opposition players to get points.
Apart from Deepak Hooda none of the other player was able to leave any positive in the field and their defensive unit played vulnerable because of which now it become very difficult for the inaugural edition winners to make it into the playoffs. The local side in the very first raid of the match tackled opposition skipper Anup Kumar and in the immediate next raid Meraj got a tackle point to add to Delhi's lead. Boosted by this strong start, Delhi started gaining momentum in the following one's and kept the scorecard moving.
However, Pink Panthers was also fighting hard for every point and when it was looking like It could be an even contest just then the momentum shifted to Delhi's favour and Meraj Sheikh made a super raid to all-out Jaipur and clinch 5 points for Delhi.
After the setback of two all-out within first 15 minutes of the game, Pink Panthers started playing bit cautiously but even that approach didn't work in front of enthusiastic Dabangs and by the end of half time they were on the brink of another all-out. However, in the later half they improved on their game and especially Deepak Hooda lead the raiding unit to keep the scorecard moving. But the poor form of Panther's defence keep all his efforts go in vain.
After the third all out within two minutes of start in second half, Jaipur compiled all it's energy to not leak any easy points and this worked for them even. They managed to sweep all the players to the dugout and enforce their first all-out. Sensing opposition's fightback, Delhi revived their team strategy and tried to slow the pace of the game by avoiding unnecessary risks. This strategy clicked and they managed to finish easily.
While in the second game of the day, in an enthralling contest Tamil Thalaivas managed to hold three time defending champion Patna Pirates 35 each. Infact in the dying minutes of the game, Thalaivas had a great chance to capture the game when the score was level at 35 and Ajay was raiding in the last raid of the match but the skipper took defensive approach and return back without a point to end the game on level terms.