Champions U Mumba win another thriller

A superb show by Rishank Devadiga gave U Mumba a superb win that led to a stupendous 29-27 win against hosts Puneri Paltan after trailing 14-15 at the break. This was the second instance where the defending champions came from behind with the earlier being against Bengaluru Bulls at Kolkata in the Season 3 of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. The win keeps U Mumba in the top four with 20 points in six matches. This setback has pushed the hosts behind in the qualification race with 14 points in six games.

The last three–four minutes of this tie proved to be tense for the teams as well as the spectators who definitely had their monies worth. At 21-21 in the 30th minute as a result of a two-point raid by Rishank, the tempo was raised. From there on there was intense drama unfolding and the authors responsible for that were the two captains Rakesh Kumar and Manjeet Chhillar. There were time-outs with both coaches shouting out instructions and having animated discussions on court. The two raiders who kept the match on the boil were Rishank Devadiga for the winners and Surendra for the losers.

While Rishank was the showman who taunted his rivals, Surendra went about his job in a cool way. He kept on earning bonus points as the Mumbai defence was a bit over cautious. Manjeet too did his job in both departments but he was distinctly unlucky as all the vigil came to no avail when Shabeer Bapu who had done precious little stole a point and followed it up with a couple on his next raid. Rishank gained one more but Surendra quietly kept on accruing the bonus points as Mumbai were happy not to challenge him fearing losses to hasty tackles.

A substitution, Bhupinder coming in and stealing the bonus off the team’s second last raid made it 28-27 leaving the wily and aggressive Manjeet with the job of pulling the chestnuts out of the fire. He ventured deep only to be blocked by rival skipper Rakesh for whom it was a fitting finale to the match. Shabeer then ran down the clock with an empty raid. Rishank ended with seven points with good support from the defenders. Iranian Fazel Atrachali who pinned down Manjeet for the final point had four and Rakesh ended with one raid and four tackle points including a super tackle. Surendra for all his superb efforts saw his eight points prove futile. Pune were hit hard by the absence of a third raider though Nilesh Salunkhe tried gamely.