Gujarat Fortunegiants ended Dabang Delhi’s run of three wins on the trot with a 31-26 victory in the seventh ProKabaddi League here on Thursday.
Rohit Gulia inspired the fightback from 17-18 down with a classy raid, solid defence and punch in the offence at the NSCI indoor stadium on the penultimate day of the second leg.
Delhi fought every step, Chandran Ranjit’s Super Tackle on Sachin Tanwar resulting in the blues drawing level at 20-20.
Fortunegiants, now unbeaten in three games, were well served by G.B. More (nine tackle points) marshalling the defence and all-rounder Gulia (eight points, including four touch points, two bonus points, one tackle point).
Naveen Kumar top-scored with 10 but finished on the losing side. He leads the raiders list.
Delhi pushed itself into a corner early on with empty raids, forcing Naveen into a do-or-die raid that resulted in his capture by the Gujarat defence led by Joginder Narwal.
The Delhi defensive combination hit back by trapping Tanwar and Gulia as a gripping contest played out.
Naveen sparked a turnaround for Delhi by touching out two rivals in one raid, rode his streak with two more fruitful raids.
Chandran played a good supporting role as the league number two side converted a 5-9 deficit into 12-10 after an all-out, and swelled it to 14-11 at the break.
Led by Narwal, the blues were getting effective.
Fortunegiants, clad in blazing orange and yellow, cashed in on a bit of over-confidence by the rival raiders to close the gap.
Chandran stretched the defence to the limit in an effort to get a touch in the left corner, only to run into a trap.
Gulia then put his team ahead with a couple of fine raids.
The result: Gujarat Fortunegiants 31 (G.B. More 9, Rohit Gulia 8, Sachin 4) bt Dabang Delhi 26 (Naveen Kumar 10, Chandran Ranjit 5).
Friday’s games: Telugu Titans v UP Yoddha; U Mumba v Gujarat Fortunegiants.
