Surjeet stars for Dabang Delhi

Surjeet Narwal put up a remarkable display for Dabang Delhi to down Puneri Paltan in the fifth league match of the Star Sports ProKabaddi here on Monday.

Though he was captured a few times and relegated to the bench in either half of the match, Narwal produced crucial points for his side in almost every raid. Delhi conceded points in the second half when he was not on court, but when he returned in the closing minutes of a pulsating match, Delhi progressed by three crucial points and clinched the first match of the competition 35-31. Narwal was ably assisted by Kashiling Adake, who scored five points.

Delhi had lost to Bengaluru Bulls on Monday.

Delhi dominated the first few minutes of the match to the extent of reducing the Paltans to zilch on court in a matter of opening two-and-a-half minutes. Delhi led 10-2, 16-7, 21-9, and 22-15 at half-time with Jiten Joshi’s splendid effort enabling Paltans to reduce the margin to seven points.

The teams competed for each and every point in the second half and with Joshi demonstrating his ability to escape after touching an opponent, the Paltans narrowed the lead to one point, but Wazir Singh who was another stand-out performer for the Paltans, suffered a cut on his face and was below-par in the second half.

The see-saw battle continued and it was really touch and go for Delhi as it made the most of Surjeet Narwal’s presence on court in the last three minutes.

Delhi led 34-31 in the last minute and earned the final point pinning down Wazir Singh. “We are not used to playing as a team. We practised for 10 days. But now we have two matches and I think we will be able to play well as a team. I knew that we will manage to pull through even if I was not in play,” said Surjeet.

Titans win a thriller

In a thrilling second match of the day, Telugu Titans salvaged a draw against U Mumba. Trailing 32-35 in the last minute, Sukesh Hegde’s last raid, where he got the better of three defenders, resulted in three points for his side.

The result: Dabang Delhi 35 (Surjeet Narwal 13, Kashiling Adake 5) bt Puneri Paltans 31 (Wazir Singh 8, Jiten Joshi 8).

U Mumba 35 (Shabeer Bapu Sharafudheen 10, Anup Kumar) drew with Telugu Titans 35 (Rahul Choudhary 12, Sukesh Hegde 7).