Last season’s runners-up Gujarat assumed control of the match from the beginning and at half-time the score read 17-12 in Gujarat’s favour. The defence led by left-cover Parvesh Bhainswal looked impenetrable. The Fortunegiants raider K Prapanjan, who was with Tamil Thalaivas last season, was impressive in the initial raids succeeding in a do-or-die raid before fizzling out in the climactic stages. Chandran Ranjith, who knows a thing or two about his former team Gujarat, did the star turn for his new team Delhi as he emerged the star raider with 10 points to single-handedly bring his team back into contention.

With just four remaining, Delhi inflicted its first all-out to swing the game in its favour.

Delhi’s Iranian import Mehraj Sheykh, of whom much was expected, remained an anonymous figure struggling to make the desired impact. Gujarat would be the more disappointed of the two teams with the result considering it was ahead for much of the match. The one major positive for Gujarat would be the performance of Bhainswal who was steady as a rock and his assured presence at the back will hold the team in good stead.