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Apoorv Dwivedi
It was a night of celebration for Delhi in Bengaluru. They have beaten Patna Pirates by a fingertip. In a nail-biting contest, they defeated the table-toppers by 38-37.
Delhi Raiders Naveen Kumar and Vijay Malik decimated the Patna defense. Patna from the beginning was mysteriously silent. Coach Ram Meher Singh was visibly frustrated with advanced tackles in the semi-final clash against UP Yoddhas.
Mohammedreza Shadoloui who was in sublime form couldn’t repeat his exploits. He gave away points at crucial occasions and Vijay and Naveen targeted him relentlessly.
In a rather bizarre miscalculation and overthinking, Patna Coach exhausted all his 5 substitutions within 12 minutes of the second half and the team had to play without designated raiders Satin and Guman.
In another incident of miscalculation, Patna sent the wrong person during their first revival when his revival was 2nd. It is destiny that Patna lost only because of that point.
Naveen Express as he is fondly called, scored 13 raid points, repeating his last season’s performance when he scored 18 raid points but couldn’t get his team through. This is the first time Patna has lost any final.
Momentum from the very beginning was on Patna’s side despite being over-defensive. Guman was taking points(total 9) and Sachin delivered. Till the 35th minute of the match, Delhi was trailing. Vijay Malik played a supporting role the entire season but in the final he rose up to the occasion and scored 2 super raids.
He scored 14 points in total and swung the match towards Delhi. It was a clean sweep for Patna Pirates as they could not defeat Dabang Delhi in the 3 matches they played this season.
This is the third consecutive season that PKL has seen a new Champion. The list of Champions is as follows-
- Jaipur Pink Panthers(2014)
- U Mumba(2015)
- Patna Pirates(2016)
- Patna Pirates(2016)
- Patna Pirates(2017)
- Bengaluru Bulls(2018)
- Bengal Warriors(2019)
- Dabang Delhi(2021-22)
*Two seasons of Pro Kabbadi were held in 2016.
High-Flyer Pawan Sehrawat finishes as the top raider with 304 raid points. Mohammedreza Shadoloui finishes as the top defender with 89 tackle points. Delhi was the finalist of the 2019 edition but this time Coach Krishan Kumar Hooda saw his team cross the finish line.