Gujarat return to Zone A summit with win over Mumbai

Gujarat Fortunegiants registered a convincing 39-28 win over U Mumba at the Harivansh Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium in Ranchi on Friday. Sachin was Gujarat’s best performer on the night with 14 points, including a Super 10, while Parvesh Bhainswal also picked up a High 5.

Raiders from both sides started the match well and were responsible for most of the points early on. Surprisingly, Mumbai’s defence was looking more confident than that of Gujarat with the latter finding it difficult to keep opposition attackers quiet up until the 12^th minute of the contest when they pulled off a super tackle on Captain Cool Anup Kumar.

The super tackle seemed to give Gujarat a confidence boost but a Kashiling Adake super raid three minutes later helped the Mumbaikars take a 10-9 lead. Successive successful raids by Sachin ensured Gujarat didn’t trail Mumbai for too long though as the Fortunegiants ended the half with some robust defending and swift raids to take a narrow 14-13 lead into the break.

The second period began with neither side willing to concede an inch as Gujarat managed to keep their one-point lead intact after the opening five minutes. The Fortunegiants managed to extend their lead to three points in the 28^th minute but a super tackle by Mumbai moments later once again made it a one-point match.

A two-point raid by Sachin a few seconds later gave Gujarat the upper hand and control of the match. The Fortunegiants went on to inflict the first All-Out of the night on Mumbai soon after to take a 25-19 lead. However, Mumbai kept their calm and came back strongly in the last five minutes of the encounter before a super tackle on Adake in the 38^th minute stopped the Mumbaikars in their tracks.

Sachin then put the game to bed with a four-point super raid that stunned Mumbai’s defence. Gujarat went on to enforce another All-Out of Mumbai in the penultimate minute to win the match comfortably and return to the summit of Zone A.

Check out our snapshots from this match here.