Pro Kabaddi League 2017: Debutants UP Yoddha, Gujarat Fortunegiants take PKL bow with decisive wins on Day 4

Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: It was a day of debutants in the 2017 Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) as Gujarat Fortunegiants and UP Yoddha registered decisive wins against Dabang Delhi and Telugu Titans respectively on Tuesday at Hyderabad.

In the day's first match, Fortunegiants produced a clinical performance to beat the Delhi franchise 26-20. The Zone A match witnessed Gujarat's Fazel Atrachali leading the defensive chores against his more famous Iranian raider Meraj Sheykh, who was leading the Delhi team.

Fortunegiants took an early lead, then maintained the pressure with consistent successful tackles. They won as many as nine tackle points, as against Delhi's five. Delhi, however, were the better raiding team with 11 points, as compared to Gujarat's 10.

Delhi tried to catch up in the latter stages of the game, but it was always going to be a tough ask as Gujarat had already taken commanding need, and were more than ready to play the waiting game.

Atrachali was the top defender with four points, while Delhi's R Sriram scored five points to get the top raider's honor.

In the second match, hosts Titans suffered their third successive defeat despite a good showing from Rahul Chaudhari. Up against a strong but untested outfit from UP, Titans kept the match alive for the most part of the first half, but soon found themselves chasing the shadow as Nitin Toma's side raced to an easy win.

Tomar, the league's costliest buy ever, led his side from the very outset and managed to match the Chaudhari's charm.

But unlike the day's first match, the Zone B encounter witnessed the new team dominating an established team like the Titans at their own backward.

But the decisive moment of the game came in the earlier part of the second half, when Yoddha's Surendra Singh produced a super raid, which helped the visitors take a lead of five points, at 18-13.

Then, Yoddha continued to score back-to-back points, and it was subsequently settled at 31-18 as the home side conceded the match even before it was over.