AHMEDABAD --- It was the second half that won India the Kabaddi World Cup final on Saturday.
Perhaps lulled a bit by their thumping 73-20 win over Thailand a day before, the hosts struggled to crack the Iranian defence in the first half. Fazel Atrachali marshalled Iran's players in their half and kept Pardeep Narwal from scoring. Iranian captain Meraj Sheykh used his reflexes well to keep the raid points coming even as Ajay Thakur seemed to struggle for India.
At half-time the hosts were 18-13 behind. The pressure was telling.
But minutes into the second half, Thakur got going. His team trailing 19-14 and with only four members left, Thakur went on a raid, scored two points and reduced Iran to three players. In the next minute, he scored another raid point to level the score at 20-20.
India were back in the game.
After another successful raid by Thakur in the 29th minute, India inflicted their first all-out and took a 24-21 lead. It was the first time they were ahead in the second half.
With Thakur taking charge of the attack, India experimented with their defence as they brought in Surjeet Singh to replace Manjeet Chhillar. The hosts also tried to keep Iran's stronger players -- Sheykh and Abozar Mighani in attack and Atracheli in defence -- on the bench.
The change in defence and strategy both clicked -- and India continued to lead from there on. Surjeet, who did not play in the semi-final, impressed with his tackles from the right.
Iran, after looking dominant in the first half, fell short in the second.
Thakur utilized his height well during the raids to get hand touches and increase India's lead. Nitin Tomar, who too came on in the second half, scored six raid points -- his best performance of the tournament.
In the final few minutes, a raid from Sheykh narrowed India's edge to 34-27. In their group-stage loss to South Korea, India had conceded seven points in the last three minutes. This time, however, captain Anup Kumar kept his team calm and patient, preventing Iranian raiders from scoring.
And though it wasn't as easy as it had been in 2004 and 2007 for them, India completed a hat-trick of World Cup wins.