Lucknow Nawabs tamed Bengal Tigers 4-2 in the opening match of the Tier II Premier Hockey League, at the Gachibowli hockey complex in Hyderabad on Friday.
In the second match of Tier II, Delhi Dazzlers whipped Imphal Rangers 6-4 thanks to four goals from Gurcharan Singh.
After Anil Ekka opened the account for Bengal Tigers in the 15th minute, the Nawabs hit back with Kamlesh scoring two goals (28th and 49th minutes), before Imtiayz Ahmed (34th) and Rajneesh Mishra (54th) each sounded the board once to take a comfortable lead.
Arbind Kumar reduced the margin in the dying moments.
The Lucknow Nawabs found their rhythm after initial hiccups and conceding the first goal with Kamlesh equalising with a shot that beat the Bengal custodian hands down.
Imtiayz Ahmed found the net with a brilliant reverse shot which passed through the goalkeeper just before the second quarter to give Bengal Tigers a 2-1 lead at half-time.
Kamlesh struck back in the third quarter and a little later Rajneesh found the mark with a direct hit to make the score 4-1.
It was a matter of consolation for Bengal Tigers as Arbind found the mark in the 68th minute.
Bengal Tigers struggled to get past the strong Lucknow defence and the match looked one-sided after the first half.
While Bengal earned two penalty-corners and failed to convert either, Lucknow scored one of the three that came their way.
Gurcharan 'tricks' in Delhi Dazzlers' big win
In the second Tier II match, Delhi Dazzlers defeated Imphal Rangers 6-4 thanks to Gurcharan Singh scoring four goals including a hat-trick.
While Gurcharan struck in the 22nd, 26th, 32nd and 52nd minutes for Delhi, it was N Chittaranjan who scored twice (3rd and 39th minutes) for Imphal.
The high-scoring match started off with a goal in the very third minute with N Chittaranjan putting Imphal into the lead while Raju equalised it in the 14th minute.
Bikas Toppo gave Delhi the lead a minute later, but Chittaranjan struck back in the 18th minute to level the score at 2-2.
However, Gurcharan Singh had a filed day, scoring three goals in a row to swell the lead to 5-2.
H Tomba Singh reduced the margin in the 39th minute but Gurcharan Singh struck back in the last quarter to increase the lead to 6-3 in the 52nd minute.
RK Tomba Singh provided the finishing touches to the match reducing the margin with a neat flick.