New Delhi: Last season’s semi-finalists Bengaluru Bulls made a fine start to their campaign in the Season 3 of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League by a comfortable 35-29 margin. After having dominated the proceedings right from the start and leading 25-9 at the break it seemed that the team from the Garden City would have a stroll but the Dabangs proved that they wouldn’t go down without a fight.

That they came close and salvaged a point for losing by less than a 7 point margin amply exhibits their fighting qualities. Delhi was well served by newcomer, armyman Surjeet Singh who logged 10 raid points on a day when star raider Kashiling Adake was pointless till the last raid of the match. He got a couple, but the damage was done.

To Bengaluru’s credit it must be said that they overcame the loss of star players like Manjit Chhillar and Ajay Thakur who had crossed over to Puneri Paltan and there were a couple of others, defenders Joginder Narawal and Dharamaraj Cherlathan who had moved on to greener pastures. Yet they managed a win was due to their skipper Surjeet Narwal and Deepak Kumar Dahia who raided with a plomb and the timely tackles of Shrikant Tewthia and Somvir Shekhar. Surjeet and Shrikant , incidentally had worn the Delhi colours last season which proved decisive.

The first half saw Surjeet Narwal score two in his very first raid to set the ball rolling in his team’s favour. Threafter, Surjeet himself came up with a four pointer, by claiming two rivals for the all out. That came in the 4th minute. Deepak Dahiya then came up with a super 5 –pointer to help his team take total control. The half-time lead was enough to send the message to Delhi.

Ashish Sangawan became the first player this season to receive the yellow card. He in his over eagerness tried to stop Surjeet Singh from touching the midline by stamping his hand and was rightly penalized.