Dabang Delhi K.C. defeated U Mumba 47-26 on Thursday at the SMS Indoor Stadium in Jaipur thanks to a dominant effort. This was a team’s second-largest victory margin of the season, with 21 points separating the two teams.
Ashu Malik led the way with 23 points, his best-ever performance in the PKL, making it a historic night for him as well. Fazel Atrachali scored four tackle points, and Neeraj Narwal contributed seven points. In the end, U Mumba found solace in Sandeep Kumar’s Super 10 performance.
With Sandeep Kumar carrying the bulk of the work for the season two winners, U Mumba had a strong start to the match. Ashu Malik gave Dabang Delhi K.C. the lead, but Neeraj Narwal was the one who was influencing the early going.
Sandeep Kumar scored five points in the first quarter, and Neeraj Narwal’s two-point blitz kept his team in the game even though Dabang Delhi was behind 7-9 after ten minutes. Ashu Malik quickly found his rhythm in this tense match as Dabang Delhi pulled even at 12–12.
As the first half came to an end, U Mumba regained their two-point advantage thanks to a Super Tackle from Sunil Kumar. But Ashu Malik came back to make sure his team finished the half strong with a multi-point attack that gave his opponents an ALL OUT just before halftime. In the process, he earned his Super 10 and gave Dabang Delhi K.C. a narrow edge at halftime, 19–17.
Dabang Delhi K.C. started the second half with a couple of tackles from Fazel Atrachali and Surjeet Singh, and Ashu Malik kept up his strong play to help them increase their advantage to five points. To make it a double-digit lead, he added even more pain by using a Super Raid to force U Mumba to give it another ALL OUT.
With 10 minutes remaining in the game, Dabang Delhi K.C. had a commanding 18-point lead at 37-19 after executing a third ALL OUT in quick succession. In the third quarter, they scored eighteen points to U Mumba’s pitiful two, demonstrating their ferocity and superiority. Ashu Malik earned 100 raid points for the season in the process.
U Mumba, meanwhile, had no reprieve. The sole bright spot for them was Sandeep Kumar, who finished the game with a Super 10. The night ultimately belonged to Ashu Malik, who finished with 23 points in the game and completed his outstanding effort with a Super Raid to record the best raiding performance of the season. Dabang Delhi K.C. moved to the top of the standings with a decisive 47-26 victory, riding on his brilliance.
