PKL: Bengal Warriors, Dabang Delhi register wins

HYDERABAD: Despite a stellar show by Suraj Desai, who scored 18 points, hosts Telugu Titans suffered their third consecutive defeat as they went down fighting 33-34 to Dabang Delhi in a well-contested game on Day 4 of the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League Season 7 league match at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, here on Wednesday.
Earlier, Iranian all-rounder Mohammed Nabibakhsh, who was bought for Rs 77 lakh, proved his worth as he scored a perfect 10 and combined with skipper Maninder Singh (9 points) to give Bengal Warriors a rousing start to their campaign as they trounced UP Yoddha 48-17 in the first match of the day.
The most expensive player of Season 7 Siddharth Desai, who was bought by Telugu Titans for a whopping Rs 1.45 crore, had to be content with just eight points. But it was his elder brother Suraj who displayed an exceptional game, including a super raid at a crucial stage of match. But his efforts proved in vain as Delhi romped home with a narrow-one point win.
“We made several mistakes, which proved costly in the end,” said Titans’ Iranian coach Gholamreza Mazandarani. For Delhi, Naveen Kumar top scored with 14 points.
In the first match of the day, Yoddha started off on an impressive note with defender Amit opening the scoring with the tackling of rival raider K Prapanjan. With their top raider Monu Goyat, who was bought from Haryana Steelers for a whopping Rs 93 lakh, scoring a couple of points, Yoddha took a 4-3 lead. Bengal skipper Maninder Singh brought his team back into the game by reducing the score to 3-4. However, an unsuccessful do-or-die raid by Yoddha’s Surender Singh gave the Bengal the lead at 6-4. Bengal soon turned the tide and swiftly gained control over the game.
Bengal coach Ramesh BC heaped praise on Nabibakhsh for his extraordinary skills.