Welcome to Sportstar’s coverage of the Pro Kabaddi League. This is Nihit Sachdeva and Shyam Vasudevan and we will be taking you through today’s PKL 8 match between Dabang Delhi K.C. and Bengaluru Bulls.

That brings us to the end of our Pro Kabaddi League coverage for the day. We will be back tomorrow. See you then!

Before you leave, do take some time to vote for your favourite athletes/teams in the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards. CLICK HERE TO VOTE

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This has to be one the best of the season, phew! Bengaluru Bulls recovered from an eight-point deficit to take a lead in the second half and Dabang Delhi returned the favour with a similar comeback. Naveen Kumar and co. erased the Bulls’ lead and Manjeet produced a fantastic tackle of the penultimate tackle of the game to ensure his side tied the game.

We head into the final game of the evening as Gujarat Giants takes on three-time champion Patna Pirates. Join me on the blog here –

Pro Kabaddi PKL 8 LIVE: Gujarat Giants vs Patna Pirates

 

DABANG DELHI K.C. vs BENGALURU BULLS

 

FULL-TIME: Dabang Delhi earns a 36-36 tie with Bengaluru Bulls.

36-36 Naveen kills the clock in the final raid and that’s the game! Dabang Delhi makes a phenomenal comeback at the death to earn a draw.

36-36 Manjeet has tied the game! He manages to yank Pawan towards him and we have time for one last raid!

35-36 Naveen gets the better of Ankit and we’re down to the last 30 seconds! Can the Bulls hold on?

34-36 That’s just pure brilliance from Pawan! He gets the better of Sandeep (again) and tags Ashu too.

 

34-34 Naveen evades Jaideep’s tackle and brings his side back on level terms. All three results are possible in the 45-odd seconds left!

“Do not give away any bonus points,” says Bengaluru Bulls coach Randhir Sehrawat.

33-34 ALL OUT! Dabang Delhi makes a late comeback into the game as the defence ushers Saurabh off the court. Dabang Delhi trails by one point with two minutes to go!

30-34 Naveen gets another point and the Bulls are down to one man!

29-34 It takes a combined effort from four defenders to contain Bharat.

28-34 SUPER 10 for Naveen! He outfoxes Jaideep, who was just substituted in, and the Bulls are down to three men.

27-34 Ashu keeps his side in the reckoning as he sneaks out of Aman’s ankle hold.

26-34 Young Krishan does what his seniors could not do as he gets the better of Pawan with a find back hold. Dabang Delhi trails by eight with less than six minutes to go.

24-32 Sandeep follows Manjeet to the bench with a silly tackle on Pawan. Poor work from the two senior defenders.

24-33 Why Manjeet, why? There was no need for a tackle there and he gives Pawan a freebie. There appears to be some sort of a personal rivalry between Pawan and Sandeep+Manjeet.

24-32 Vijay darts in for a bonus and Saurabh attempts a back hold on him but misses it.

Bengaluru Bulls  has scored 18 points in the last 10 minutes as compared to Dabang Delhi’s four!

21-32 Joginder gifts Pawan an easy point. It’s almost like Joginder moved in slow motion to grab Pawan’s ankle, but the latter was well on his way out of the hold.

21-30 SUPER 10 for Pawan! He eliminates Sandeep and then stares him down. No love lost between these two!

21-29 ALL OUT! Aman traps Sandeep in a perfect ankle hold and Bengaluru Bulls has stretched its lead to eight points. Stellar comeback from the season six champion.

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20-26 That’s HUGE from Pawan! He gets the better of Ashu and Manjeet, with the latter making a silly error to give himself up. Dabang Delhi down to one man – Sandeep Narwal!

20-24 Bharat strikes and gets rid of the dangerous Joginder.

Naveen has spent 10 minutes and counting on the bench today!

20-22 Pawan tags Joginder on left corner and then Sandeep absolutely rams into the Bulls captain. Ouch.

19-22 Mohit and Ankit combine to take out Vijay and Dabang Delhi is now reduced to four men. Trouble!

19-21 The High-Flyer is at his best – he jumps over Krishan to bag his eighth point of the game.

19-20 Oh my Bharat, what a tackle! He grabs hold of Naveen’s ankle and the Dabang Delhi raider has nowhere to go!

19-18 ALL OUT! What a fine comeback from the Bengaluru Bulls. We’re in for a trilling second half, to say the least.

19-14 Pawan gets the better of Sandeep and Dabang Delhi is down to one man.

Hey guys, Shyam here and I will keep you company for the second half of this game!

HALF-TIME: Dabang Delhi K.C. 18-14 Bengaluru Bulls

18-14: Bharat comes in for the raid and uses his reach to get a touch off Manjeet who was too late in retreating.

18-13: Ankit comes up with the block and lifts raider Ashu Malik in the air.

18-12: A loose ankle hold attempted by Joginder gives an easy touch point to Bharat Naresh. Bulls need to keep chipping away at Delhi’s lead to have a chance.

16-11: Pawan with a massive ankle hold takes down Vijay. Excellent.

16-10: Clutch. GB More goes in for the raid and gets a running hand touch off Naveen of all people.

16-9: Do-or-die raid for Ashu Malik, Saurabh Nandal goes in for the block and misses it but Aman comes in time to stop him anyway.

16-8: The lead has been doubled. Bharat Naresh was in for the raid, went a little too deep with all seven Delhi players on the mat and rightly got taken down.

13-8: ALL OUT!!! Deepak, the lone Bulls player on the mat, picks up a bonus but nothing more than that as the Delhi defence is clearly in the mood to make up for last time’s embarassment.

10-7: Two Bulls players on the mat, Naveen targets Aman on the left corner, gets the touch point and then tries to touch the other player as well before Aman threatens with a tackle again.

8-7: Do-or-die raid for Ashu Malik, he keeps waiting and with five seconds on the clock, gets the touch point courtesy of a needless block tried by Saurabh Nandal.

7-7: Do-or-die raid and it is sub Abolfazel Maghsodlo who goes in. He gets the touch off Joginder but it is of no use as the Delhi defence tackles him successfully.

6-7: Naveen tries to get a touch off the left corner, doesn’t get it, retreats and goes for the dubki but all four Bulls defenders just mob him and the young raider has no route for escape.

6-6: The Hi-Flyer has been brought down by Sandeep Narwal and the rest of the players manage to stop him just before the mid-line.

5-6: Another bonus for Pawan.

5-5: Naveen gets a touch point off Bharat on the left corner with a beautiful kick.

4-5: Pawan picks up a bonus.

4-4: Naveen Kumar picks up a bonus.

3-3: Naveen looks fired up. Again, it is a touch point off Aman.

2-3: Pawan draws in the error from Joginder Narwal who got lured into the ankle hold which wasn’t there.

2-2: Naveen, we have missed you!!! The youngster scores his first point post the knee injury as he first escapes Aman’s ankle hold and then negotiates Ankit’s block.

0-2: Pawan Sehrawat in for the opening raid and returns with a bonus and a touch point as he gets a touch point off Krishan.

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TOSS – Dabang Delhi K.C. wins the toss and selects right side of the court. Bengaluru Bulls to raid first.

8-36pm: TEAM NEWS!

Dabang Delhi: Naveen Kumar, Manjeet Chillar, Joginder Narwal, Vijay Malik, Ashu Malik, Sandeep Narwal, Krishan Dhull

Bengaluru Bulls: Pawan Sehrawat, GB More, Mohit Sehrawat, Saurabh Nandal, Ankit, Bharat, Aman

8-35pm: Bengal Warriors has lost two of its last three matches and is 10th on the points table. The side had a poor outing against the Gujarat Giants in its previous match and managed only eight tackle points, with Ran Singh picking five of those, and could score 17 raid points while giving up 12 tackle points. The Warriors are only four points behind fourth-placed Jaipur Pink Panthers, but a defeat on Friday could prove to be detrimental in their quest for a playoff berth.

8-30pm: Haryana Steelers come into this game on the back of a disappointing loss against Gujarat Giants. The defence had an off night and managed only five tackle points while conceding 20 raid points. The raiding unit had a decent outing as Meetu finished the game with eight raid points. Skipper Vikash Kandola also picked up seven points, but the rest of the team failed to impress.

8-20pm: Haryana Steelers are closing in on a win against the Bengal Warriors! Follow the game live here –
Pro Kabaddi PKL 8 LIVE: Haryana Steelers leads Bengal Warriors 27-23 with 10 mins left

8-10pm: If you’ve just hopped on the PKL train, fret not, we have you covered. Here’s a simple explainer that covers all the rules of the game and the various terms such as ‘All Out’, ‘Do-or-die’ and ‘Super Tackle’ –

8pm: Hey guys, welcome to our PKL coverage of the day. Before we get to today’s second game between Dabang Delhi K.C. and Bengaluru Bulls, here’s a recap of what went down in the PKL over the last fortnight –

PKL notebook: Swift rescheduling saves the League

Where to watch PKL 8? You can watch all the games of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL 8) on the Star Sports Network. The matches will also be streamed live on the Disney+ Hotstar app.