Baladhaneshwar sparkles in Chennai Heat’s thrilling win

A fast and dramatic third quarter helped Chennai Heat defeat Delhi Dribblers 85-70 in the first Indian National Basketball League which opened with a thriller at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Sunday.

For a good part of the first half, especially in the second quarter, Chennai did not look like the side which had helped Tamil Nadu win the National and National Games titles in the last few months.

Chennai, which trailed 38-43 at half-time, looked shaky in the first two quarters and its rebound collection did not inspire confidence too. On the other hand, Delhi’s Rishab Mathur and Gaurav Chandel were in fine nick while Indian centre Piyush Meena did a decent job with the rebounds, especially under the defensive board.

But the match turned around sharply soon after half-time. Suddenly, Chennai looked very fast with captain Baladhaneshwar surprising the rival defence with his lightning raids, steals, baskets and fine assists. He was clearly the star of the game and Delhi could not do much to stop him.

Chennai’s passing too was impressive during this phase and A. Surya and B. Soorya were on a scoring spree. The team tightened its defence too, cutting out the space for its rival, and in the end won the match comfortably.

“We were lacking in defence in the first half and took time to settle down. Everybody played aggressively in the second half, especially Bala and Aravind,” said Chennai’s Indian captain Muin Bek Hafeez.

Later in another thriller, home team Kochi Tigers edged past Chandigarh Warriors 81-75.

The results (league): Chennai Heat 85 (Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi 25, A. Surya 21, B. Soorya 14, Muin Bek Hafeez 12) bt Delhi Dribblers 70 (Rishab Mathur 14, Gaurav Chandel 13, Rajeev Kumar 10, Piyush Meena 10).

Kochi Tigers 81 (Vaishakh K. Manoj 25, Sejin Mathew 20, Lalrina Renthlei 18) bt Chandigarh Warriors 75 (Sahil 15, Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 12, Rajan Sandhu 10, Palpreet Singh Brar 10).

Mumbai Titans 88 (Sahaj Patel 16, Sameer Qureshi 16, Sayeed Yousuf 14, Vivek Goli 13, Mirant Italia 11) bt Bengaluru Kings 70 (C.R. Abhishek Gowda 16, B.K. Anil Kumar 11, Pratyanshu Tomar 10, B.M. Manoj 10).