Dilbir now holds a narrow 28-pin lead over last year’s runner-up Girish Gaba of Karnataka, who finished the first round with an impressive average of 203.50 after knocking down 1,213 pins with a high score of 248 in the third game. Dilbir felled 1,221 pins for an average score of 208.17.
Karnataka’s Aakash Ashok Kumar lies in third place, eight pins behind Girish on 1,213 with an average of 202.17.
Round 1: (Squad A, B, C, D, E, long oil): Dilbir Singh (WB, 1,249, 208.17) 1; Girish Gaba (Kar, 1,221, 203.50) 2; Aakash Ashok Kumar (Kar, 1,213, 202.17) 3; Ajay Singh (Kar, 1,205, 200.83) 4; Shabbir Dhankot (TN, 1,164, 194) 5; Pratik Vijan (Mah, 1,153, 192.17) 6; Dhruv (Del, 1,145, 190.83) 7; Mohanlal (Har, 1,144, 190.67) 8; Bharat Nahar (TN, 1,137, 189.50) 9; Srinath Pobbathi (Kar, 1,134, 189) 10; Harsavardhan Sarda (Del, 1,125, 187.50) 11; K Surendra Babu (TN, 1,122, 187) 12; Shashi Kumar (Kar, 1,121, 186.83) 13; Ramesh PT (Kar, 1,117, 186.17) 14; A Praneet Goud (AP, 1,113, 185.50) 15; Antony Rajkumar (Kar, 1,108, 184.67) 16.