Fazel Atrachali scored a High 5 against Telugu Titans.

With a stellar defensive show, U Mumba registered a convincing 41-27 win over Telugu Titans at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday. They were led by captain Fazel Atrachali’s six tackle points, Sandeep Narwal’s four tackle points and Arjun Deshwal earned nine raid points.

U Mumba got the first points of the evening and took a 3-0 lead with some help from Deshwal’s opening two-point raid. Telugu Titans though drew level in the third minute with some all-round effort.

It remained even on both sides of the mat until ‘Baahubali’ Siddharth Desai got into the act with two straight successful raids to take a two-point lead at 9-7. Desai added another point before a successful tackle on Rohit Baliyan, who was incisive in the first half, to inflict an All-Out with the score reading 13-9 in Telugu Titans’ advantage.

After the field was reset, U Mumba got into attack mode and Telugu Titans’ advantage was levelled when the Season 2 champions scored six straight unanswered points before Farhad Milaghardan’s raid made it all square at 15-15 at halftime.

U Mumba put on a team effort to beat Telugu Titans.

In the second half, U Mumba entered the mat with purpose. They inflicted an All Out on Telugu Titans and took a 19-16 lead. That assault continued after the reset as U Mumba extended their advantage to 23-16. In the period since Telugu Titans’ All Out, Atrachali managed to add four points and almost single-handedly steered the game towards his side.

Super Tackles from Rakesh Gowda and Vishal Bhardwaj managed to get Telugu Titans back into the game, reducing the deficit to four points at 25-21. But Telugu Titans were hurt in the raiding department as Desai spent a little over 17 minutes of the first 30 on the bench.

Atrachali soon completed a High 5 with an ankle hold on Gowda, and then successive points from raider Deshwal and a tackle from Narwal added another All Out for Telugu Titans to increase the gap to 30-22.

Once they all got back on to the mat, it was Surinder who stepped up and bagged three straight tackle points for U Mumba, including the last one which came on Desai. By this time Telugu Titans was out of breath, as Deshwal, Baliyan and Narwal got in on the action to hand Telugu Titans another All Out. That was the final nail in the coffin as U Mumba registered a comfortable win and moved into the Top 6.

Top Performers:

Telugu Titans –

Best Raider – Rakesh Gowda (4 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Vishal Bhardwaj (4 Tackle Points)

U Mumba –

Best Raider – Arjun Deshwal (9 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Fazel Atrachali (6 Tackle Points)