U Mumba end Patna Pirates’ unbeaten run

Defending champions U Mumba finally put the brakes on Patna Pirates’ dream run in the Season 3 of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi with a convincing 34-28 win aided by fine performances from all-rounder Rishank Devadiga and the Iranian defender Fazel Atrachali.

For Patna Pirates it was Rohit Kumar the lean and mean army man carried the brunt of the attack. He enhanced his reputation with 12 points in 20 raids. Patna Pirates remain at the top of the table with 47 points and U Mumba who now have 30 stay behind Bengal Warriors who are placed second.

The match was won and lost in the first half as Patna Pirates trailed by a huge 9-24 margin after facing two all-outs. The first came in the 5th minute as Rishank Devadiga pulled off a three-point super raid. He kept scoring and so did Captain Anup. Only Rohit showed some semblance of a fight. He scored three points but was caught as many times too.

Pardeep Narwal was in a subdued mood despite scoring three raid points and that didn’t help the leaders. With the second all-out in the 16th minute at 7-22 it was a huge mountain to climb for the hosts. They did make efforts mostly through Rohit Kumar who had two super raids of three points each but he lacked support. Substitute Rajesh Mondal and Deepak Narwal couldn’t do much.

Rishank Devadiga continued his good run and Fazel Atrachali who had got in during the South Asian Games in place of Surender Nada raised his game to ensure four decisive tackles of which three were on Rohit Kumar. That effectively subdued any chances that the hosts might have harboured of catching up with the champions.

Nevertheless they succeeded in getting the all-out in the 35th minute by scoring at a brisk pace. Nine points in ten minutes to be precise. But even then the difference remained big enough at 24-31. The win brings U Mumba closer to qualification and the win against the leaders will definitely prod them to perform to their potential.