PKL 2017: Dominant Gujarat Fortunegiants overcome weak Dabang Delhi

Chennai, Oct 4: Proving once again why they are title contenders in the season, Gujarat Fortunegiants out for this season as they managed to overcome a weak Delhi resistance and scored a 20-point victory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday (October 3).

R Sriram, who had not been played regularly by Dabang Delhi K.C. so far in the season, looked the best raider for their side while Sachin (11 points) and Chandran Ranjit (9 points) did the job in offence for Gujarat.

Gujarat turned to in-form raider Ranjit to get points for them early on. He and Sachin took on the Delhi defenders resulting in their team getting an early 6-1 lead in the 4th minute. Delhi faced an early All-Out and were trailing 3-12 as the Gujarat defence was miserly on the night, not giving the Delhi raiders anything easily.

An uninspired defensive display from Delhi meant that Ranjit and Sachin had little difficulty while raiding as their side got 17-5 ahead in just the 14th minute. Sriram looked the only effective raider for Delhi but he too couldn't do much to avoid a second Delhi All-Out just three minutes later as Gujarat surged ahead to a 24-7 lead.

Sriram put up some resistance, scoring 5 points for his team in the first half but Gujarat's raiders outclassed their Delhi counterparts resulting in their taking a 27-9 lead at the end of the first half.

Delhi's dismal show continued in the second half as they fell to another All-Out owing to Sachin and Ranjit's raids and conceded a 38-15 lead. Sunil Kumar led the Gujarat defence and returned with a High 5 to show for his efforts.

Sachin reached his Super 10 before Gujarat used all five of their substitutions at one go with 4 minutes still to play. Delhi's tacklers and substitute Rohit Baliyan managed to return some points from there but they still went down 42-22 at the full-time whistle.